The Lies That Bind Us
by Corisu Li
Summary: Complete! Sango is the perfect FBI agent, bringing down her targets without slaying a single one... until she's told to kill an alleged terrorist Miroku. Sango must infiltrate his life, while learning that sometimes it's not truth, but lies that bind.
1. The Taijiya

A new fic is finally here! Took me long enough, huh? I hope you enjoy it, my friends!

Disclaimer: I own the Inuyasha characters. Hmm. I think there ought to be a 'do not' in there somewhere... Ah, well.

Chapter One: The Taijiya

The man rushed down the alleyway, shoving trash cans and kicking the occasional stray cat out of his way. His eyes were frantic, almost rabid; he glanced back every couple of seconds to make sure that he wasn't being followed, while at the same time knowing that his checks would make no difference.

If she didn't want to be seen, she wouldn't be.

No one on the outside really knew what she looked like; those who had seen her in action either worked with her or were in custody. However, there was no mistaking the chill that permeates the body when being chased by an expert predator.

He huffed and wheezed as he turned a sharp right into an even darker alley. The cluster of fire escapes above him blotted out the feeble light that he was getting from the moon, and he blinked in the sudden darkness before pausing, clutching the stitch in his side.

"Did I... lose her?" he huffed, wiping sweat from his bald pate and squinting around at his surroundings. When the alley remained silent, he barked out a short laugh that was really a sigh of relief. His harsh chuckles quickly escalated to hysterical laughter and he hugged his stomach tightly at the pain that it caused his strained muscles.

"I did it! I escaped the Taijiya!"

"Ahem."

The man's beady eyes snapped upward and widened. "Shit..."

A figure stood on one of the lowest fire escapes, aiming what was unmistakably a gun in the man's direction. Long brown hair drawn into a ponytail floated on the gentle night breeze. The voice had already portrayed her as a female, and her poise showed it even more. Though she was mostly hidden in shadow, the hunted recognized her immediately.

"No!" He whirled and began to run, only to stop again when a bullet chipped the pavement in front of his left foot.

"I would suggest _not_ trying that again," the Taijiya called, descending the ladder while keeping the gun leveled with one hand. "Zuma Manten, you're under arrest for betraying priviledged information."

Manten smirked. "So what are my rights, officer?"

She touched down softly on the ground and took a few steps toward the man, who by now had his hands in the air. "What rights?" she asked dryly.

Applause echoed down the alley. She froze, momentarily stunned, then groaned and rolled her eyes. "_Naraku_..."

Her ebony haired boss stepped into the dim light flickering through a break in the overhead structures. "Yes?"

Sango holstered her weapon and folded her arms, glaring. Manten let out a peal of guffawing laughter. "Not _again!_ I have better things to do with my time than carry out your mock missions!"

Naraku just grinned smugly. "But 'Jiya, you must keep your senses sharp. I want to make sure that you do not lose your touch. Manten, here, was more than willing to participate in our little practice. I thought that you would enjoy the experience as much as he did." He gestured to Manten, who was still choking with laughter. "He is our newest operative. I thought this would be a nice way to welcome him."

"Right," Sango muttered, rolling her eyes in irritation. "I hate you, do you know that?"

"I do. Such is the way of life."

Sango sighed and shoved her hand in the inner pocket of her black overcoat, digging for her car keys. "I'm out of here. If you need me, please, hesitate to call."

Her boss let her get a short way from him before he called out, "I hope you aren't headed for home, 'Jiya. A new mission is ready and waiting for you at headquarters."

Sango froze, then turned slowly, her eyes disbelieving. "Another mock, I presume?"

An indecipherable expression flashed across Naraku's face for a split second, then his features curled into a cold smile. "No. Your tech has the details for you. I want you on the case by midnight tonight."

"Midnight? Are you insane? It's already 11:00!"

Naraku just chuckled and turned away. "I believe that you are up to the challenge. Come, Manten." The two vanished down an alleyway, Manten still giggling slightly.

Sango just stared after him, her keys dangling from her right hand. _He can't be serious..._ When the spell of incredulity passed, she let out a frustrated groan and reached for her pocket once more, drawing out a company-issue cell phone. _Perks of the job,_ she mused, pressing and holding '1', the auto-dial for her technical support.

She began to retrace Manten's path through the alleyway, winding her way back toward her car. The phone rang four times before she reached the first alleyway... five... six...

There was a click, an unintelligible shout, then a frustrated, "Hello?"

Sango rubbed her temples as she walked. "What does he want now?"

A few moment of confused silence, then, "Oh! Sango! How are you? How did the mission go?"

"I'm fine, if you ignore the fact that I'm out for my boss's blood. And you know perfectly well that the mission was a mock, Higurashi Kagome."

"Eee..." Sango could envision the girl holding the phone away from her ear as if expecting a tirade. "Sorry?"

Sango had reached her car and slid inside, thudding her head against the steering wheel without sounding the horn - a talent of hers that had developed with time. "Whatever, Kagome. Can you brief me? Maybe I _won't_ have to cross town again tonight."

Papers shuffled from the other side of the line. "Mmm... I can give you the basics, but you still need to come in. There's a huge sealed envelope that's for your eyes only."

Thud. Thud. "Fine. What do you have?"

"A terrorist. The name must be in the F.Y.E.O. envel, though. I don't see it here. Anyway, he's allegedly connected with those arson cases that the local police have been failing to deal with lately."

"Arson?"

"Where have _you _been? You know: police stations, unexplained blazes, exploding cars, desires for world conquest?"

Sango lifted her head, freeing her face so that she could lift an eyebrow. "World conquest?"

"Okay, so that's a little far-fetched. But still... this guy's making a lot of trouble." More paper shuffling. "It says here that he's 24 - perfect age for you, Sango..."

Sango rolled her eyes. "If you'd say that about my targets, I don't want to know what you'd say about random cute guys on the street."

"Ooh. Speaking of that, Houjou's been following me around again. You think he likes me?"

"Nah." Sango started her car and pulled off from the curb. "I'm sure he's plotting a very violent death for you, and is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask you out so that he can fulfill his violent fantasies."

"...Eee..."

"Or he could just like you."

"Sango, your sense of humor is _very_ warped."

"Thanks. I'll be there in twenty." She hung up. One thing about the Taijiya: she never said good-bye. It was a superstition that she had harbored ever since her parents' deaths.

They had been slain years ago, when she was only sixteen and her brother, Kohaku, was eleven. Out for a night on the town, they had chanced upon a gunfight between two rival gangs. She'd been given the identity of one of the the leaders, as well as his girlfriend, but she'd been unable to locate either one. It was the one thing that she didn't mention about her officially flawless career. Though she hadn't been assigned to bring them in, she had _made_ it her mission to find her parents' killers... and she had failed.

She wished that she had said more at their last meeting than 'Good-bye'.

These thoughts ran though her head as she drove through the empty streets. The darkness was interspersed with the occasional streetlamp; Sango sighed at the symbolism. Her life _was_ night - minus the lamps that took the edge off of the darkness.

* * *

People scurried out of the way as Sango stormed into the building, walking so quickly that her coat had trouble keeping up. One of the techs (_Shippou?_ Sango thought) ventured a wave, and she shot him a glare that would have frozen flame.

"Uh, Sango?"

Sango stopped, then turned to look back at the tech. He pushed his chair back from his desk and turned it to face her. Shippou was very young, in his late teens at the most. He had been a sort of prodigy, and his accelerated level had lifted him to FBI before he was nineteen.

"What the hell is it, Shippou? I'm sleepy, I'm pissed, and I'm not feeling pro-people at the moment. I just want to get my case from Kagome so I can get on this and be done-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about... here's your info. Kagome left early." He handed her a sealed envelope with a manilla folder on top. For the second time that day, Sango was shocked. Also for the second time, she was outraged.

"She _left_?!"

"Yeah. Something about picking her little brother up from practice-"

"What could he be practicing at 11:30 at night?" Sango tapped her foot in irritation.

Shippou shrugged. "I only work here. Want a latté? I finally got around to fixing the machine in the lounge." The teen didn't work in the same capacity as Kagome. He tended to stick to electronics and gadgets, and he produced many of the specialized weapons that the team used.

"That'd be great. Thanks."

As Shippou slipped from the room, she sat in his vacated spot. Setting aside the general information envelope, she picked up the sealed one, reading the words on the front:

Tenaka Sango

For Your Eyes Only

From the Desk Of:

Waru Naraku

Naraku always insisted on scrawling his signature on F.Y.E.Os, and this time was no different. His name was written in a spidery script across the front of the envel. Hoping against hope that it wasn't an out-of-country mission or one that required her to take up a bizzare alias, she tucked her finger under the sealed edge and ripped the envel open.

The first thing she withdrew was an Extended Profile form. It would give her the information that Kagome had been lacking in the brief. She scanned it quickly.

Nakano Miroku. Hm. She buried herself in the information in her typical style, tuning out the rest of the room and absorbing the facts. He was a part-time bartender that had a passion for art. _Typical romantic tragic hero, huh? Now where's the ex-wife that died in a tragic accident? _She glanced farther down the sheet. _Never married. Oh, well._

As she read about him, she began to formulate a picture of him in her mind. _He's a bartender, so he probably has a beer belly... mustache... long, unkempt hair... I bet he's-_ Sango's brain ground to a halt as she drew a photograph from the envel. She stared.

She stared until a voice chirped, "Here ya go!". Then she jumped.

"Oh, uh, thanks, Shippou." Sango put the picture face-down on the desk and took a sip of her latté. Mmm. Late-night caffeine.

"So, that's your new target, huh?"

Sango blinked when she realized that Shippou was perusing the picture that he'd somehow snatched off of the desk. "Hey! Give me that! Priviledged information, you know!"

Shippou handed her the photo, then shrugged. "My desk, my rules. Besides, that guy looked more like an ex-boyfriend than prey for the great Taijiya."

Sango glanced at the picture once more, and realized that she agreed. The picture showed a completely gorgeous young man leaning on the door of what looked like a club. His hair was in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck, and his grin was utterly confident and endearing.

To hide her rapport with Shippou's statement, she huffed. "He looks like a whore."

The teen just sighed and waved Sango out of his chair, returning to his computer and his 90 words per minute typing.

Sango moved further into the room, finally reaching her own desk and slipping into it. She lay the picture and the info sheet aside, then weighted the envel in one hand. It was still quite heavy, even though she had already removed the two things that she usually received for a new mission. She upended the envelope, and another large bluish envel slid out, followed by a plain white one.

Oh, great. I'm going to have to pretend to be his long-lost sister and those are my background papers. She ripped the end off the white envel and slid out the letter, taking in the words without really reading them. _Or maybe I'm going to be an ex that's returning because she wants him back so desperately. Or-_

She paused. Her eyes had just caught sight of a single word on the paper that she had never seen before in an order, written in Naraku's usual style.

'Objective: Kill.'

The blood rushed from her face. _What the hells... _She had always been able to bring down her targets without killing them, so that they could be brought in for questioning. Though she'd never failed on an official mission, she'd never had to take another's life. What sort of information did they have on Nakano that they'd order her to...?

And why me?

Sango's trembling fingers dropped the letter on her desk; she had finally figured out what was in the blue envel. It was an application.

An application for her license to kill.

* * *

Please, leave me some feedback!


	2. The Dancing Buddha

I heart you guys so much for the reviews! I hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own this. [holds up box of instant Jell-O Pudding] Pudding is not Inuyasha. Therefore, I don't own Inuyasha. Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Chapter Two: The Dancing Buddha

Kagome bolted upright in bed, reaching over for her alarm clock and whapping it. When the annoying buzzing sound didn't stop, she realized that the alarm hadn't been what had awakened her. She glared at her cell phone, the TV, and the electrical socket next to her bed and decided that neither of them was the culprit either.

When the buzzing gave way to a loud, urgent knock, she sighed. Oh. The door.

She swung her feet out of the bed and stepped onto the cold floor, irritated that her white slippers were nowhere in sight. She wrapped her robe around her shoulders and marched down the hall, fully intending to give whoever it was a thorough tongue-lashing-

-then thinking twice as she saw her brother already getting an earful.

"Well, go wake her up, brat! This is important, and no way am I going to do this by myself!" Sango's right fist was clenched, while her left hand held a blue envelope.

Souta took a step back. "Geez, calm down!" His gaze fell on Kagome, and he grinned in relief. "Oh, look, there's sis, gotta fly!" he blurted, making a hasty exit, stage right.

Sango's cool eyes fell on Kagome. "Nice night, huh?"

Kagome blinked. "Eheheh. Sango, if this is about earlier-"

"Earlier? No, my friend, this is about _now_." She shoved the thick envelope into Kagome's hands. "Since you left the office before your shift was over, leaving me temporarily tech-less, that means that you'll just have to do your work here. It is now..." She glanced at her watch. "...11:53, meaning that if you start filling out these forms now, I'm officially 'on the case'."

"Sango what..." Kagome weighed the envelope in one hand, her eyes wide. "What is this?"

"Papers to fill out. Just do all you can; most of my stuff is in your files. After you're done, fax the papers that need my signature to my house. I'll sign them, bring them over, and you can give them to The Bastard. Clear?"

"Naraku's not that much of a bastard, Sango. He's just... emphatic about his work."

Sango leaned closer to Kagome, causing the younger girl to shrink away. "Kagome. I have run around this town for _hours_ tonight, looking for a fake target, I'm told that I have to start on a new case right away, I return to the office and you're not even there for moral support, I'm stuck driving halfway across town to deliver this in person, Naraku saddles me with this mission that involves icing my target, and you _still_ tell me that Naraku's not a bastard? I don't know what planet you live on, or what dictionary you read, but if it were possible, I'd ask you to buy me a one-way ticket and reserve my copy."

"You have to _kill_ someone?" Kagome gasped. "That's what this is about... It's your application."

"Keep this quiet, Kagome," Sango sighed wearily. "I'm going to go home and try to get some rest."

The tech stood still for a moment, then nodded gravely. "I'm on it. Sleep well."

"Doubt it." Sango stepped out of the door and closed it gently behind her, exposing herself to the cool night breeze. She had just reached for the door handle when her cell phone rang, buzzing in a rather irritating manner against her hip.

She slid into the car and pulled the phone from her coat pocket, flipping it open and slipping the earpiece into her ear as she started her car. "Yeah?"

"Hello, 'Jiya."

Sango inwardly groaned. "Naraku," she acknowledged.

"I assume that you've given your application to your tech to complete?"

"Yeah."

"I also assume that you're aware that the processing procedure for your license may take up to three weeks, constituting a background check and other examinations of the like."

"Yeah."

"Monosyllabic tonight, 'Jiya?"

"Your name is three syllables."

Naraku chuckled. He immensely enjoyed annoying Sango, simply because it was so easy for him. "I called to tell you that you need not wait three weeks to get started on this case. I want you to get close to this target, get him to accept you as a friend. Therefore, it will be all the much easier to get him in a secluded spot, alone, once you receive your license. It shouldn't be so difficult for you to maintain your businesslike interior while feigning friendship."

"Hold it right there, Naraku. I need to ask you something."

"By all means, do so."

Sango made a hard right, scaring a cat and a rebellious teenager who dropped out of a window a little faster than he'd intended. "Why me? You have so many operatives who have all gone on killing missions more than once. So why pick someone who's inexperienced?"

"Everyone must elevate themselves sooner or later. You have the skill, 'Jiya. You've just never had the freedom to exercise it. It will be good for you."

"...I still hate you." Sango muttered.

"Good. I would hate for you to grow inconsistent. Track down your target and initiate contact. I want a report tomorrow."

Sango flipped her phone closed. She had been working for Naraku long enough to know when the conversation was over without him having to say it. Tugging the earpiece from her ear, she looked around at the nearly empty street, then spotted a large building to her right.

It was decorated with golden beads that caught every bit of light from passing cars or streetlights. A large, golden statue stood atop it, depicting a twisting dragon with long, sharp-looking fangs. A flashing neon sign below the dragon proudly proclaimed: 'The Dancing Buddha'.

A bar. A gaudy, yet oddly attractive bar. Fine.

On a whim, Sango pulled into the parking lot. She usually didn't drink, but days such as the one she had just lived through gave her a bit of leeway. Unclipping her phone and leaving it in the dash with her gun, she climbed out, locked the door, and went inside.

The interior was, if possible, more garish than the exterior. Despite this, Sango found herself appreciating the decor, a huge step up from the other bars that she'd seen, which housed only vagrants and gamblers.

The floor was wooden, but it was decorated with interlocking spirals of purple and gold that twisted around the tables and chairs before ascending the walls like enthusiastic vines. The furniture was in very good condition; a large bar in the shape of a ring was in the middle of the floor, and tables dotted the perimeter of the bar.

"Oi, missy!"

Sango glared in the direction that the catcall had come from. _'You can take the sliminess out of a bar, but you sure can't _keep_ it out.'_ Pointedly ignoring the man, she approached the bar and slid into a seat, making sure that she was a good distance away from the others.

She traced a swirl on the bartop with her finger, resting her cheek in one hand. In just one day, her life had become so terribly insane.

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Hmmn." Sango made a noncommittal noise, refraining from raising her head.

"Would you like something?"

"Double gin and tonic, two slices of lime and one slice of lemon." She changed swirls. "Bendy straw."

There was a silence from the bartender. Sango supposed that he hadn't gotten all of that and was about to repeat herself when he asked, "Are you a model?"

Sango's swirl tapered off the edge of the counter. Damn. She changed again. "No."

"You should be."

"Look, would you stop flirting with me! I'm pissed off, tired, and I need to get dr-"

A hand set a small glass down on one of her previously-traced designs. "Here you go. And by the way, I wasn't flirting. I meant it." He put a small card on the counter and slid it over to her. "We're tracing the human body. Thought you might like to be a model."

"Bendy straw." Sango snapped in irritation.

"As you wish." He placed the straw beside her drink, then turned to tend to a very drunk man's request for more beer. As soon as he had moved away, Sango unwrapped her straw, plunged it into her drink, and sipped. She never did like the taste of the strong drink, but it was doing wonders for her rotten mood.

She ventured a glance at the bartender's retreating back - then did a doubletake. '_Short black ponytail... looks young... oh crap.'_ Despite her mind's vehement denial, as the man turned, Sango recognized him for who he was.

Nakano Miroku.

Her target.

"Miss? I asked if that would be all for you."

Sango jumped. "Uh, no, that's all, thanks."

Nakano told her the price of the drink and collected the money. He was heading off in another direction when Sango made up her mind. "Nakano!"

He turned. "How'd you...?"

Sango blushed as she realized that he hadn't even told her his name. His last name wasn't even on his nametag! '_Stupid, stupid,_' she berated herself, biting down on her straw and taking a long sip to delay her answer. Her eyes fell on the card and she sighed as she saw his name listed as a teacher's aide. Sipping again, she pointed.

"Oh. But how did you know that was me?"

'_Think fast, think fast!'_ Sango's mind was in shambles. Her professional side was telling her to come up with an excuse, while her other side was saying something along the lines of, 'His eyes are violet... the picture didn't show that his eyes were _violet_...'.

'_Wait. Nametag!'_

"I got your first name from your tag, then I noticed that it matched the name on this card." Sango mentally sighed.

"Ah. That means you're considering joining us as a model, then?" His eyes shone ever so slightly in the dim light, and Sango shrugged.

"Maybe...?"

"Great!" He extended his hand. "The name's Nakano Miroku. Just call me Miroku."

"Tenaka Sango." She shook his hand, deciding not to think about what she was getting herself into.

"Well, Sango, I hope to hear from you about the job. We pay _very_ well, you know." With a roguish wink, Miroku moved elsewhere.

Sango stared down at her nearly-empty glass, then had a horrible realization.

He was an art student.

Art students used models.

Nude models.

"Miroku... could you top off my drink?"

* * *

Review Responses

the littlest dinosaur: Hee! Thank you, I'm glad you liked! [is flattered]

Irasuto: Nice to have an explosion analogy! I hope this lives up to expectation!

blueblue: I stopped it there just for suspense's sake. I understand your frustration, but it's just the way I write. I appreciate the way you said it was 'getting to the good part'... but wasn't the whole thing 'the good part'? .

Matsemunei: Hiya, Mat-san! Eh... this topic isn't THAT hard, it's just filling in the little details that's challenging. Glad you like!

Sango'n'Miroku4ever: [squeals] Love your name! I knuu... the 'whore' line just popped up out of nowhere. Hope this was fast enough for you!

Kyoko Kasshu Minamino: ;;; You are odd. And seeing as how I've never watched 'Spy Kids' I wouldn't know... XD Yay for Miroku/Sangoness! [hands you an ice pack] You have to watch for those random flying objects no da.

Aamalie: [basks in your interested-ness] You know, I've just started writing random scenes to be inserted into a chapter once I get that far... Meh. XD Whooo! Miroku-whore! Miroku: -.-;;; Why did she start this?

E. Marie: Yay, feedback! Oh, thanks so much! You flatter me, really! I hope this update was quick enough for you... if not, feel free to pelt me with marshmellows... [puts up umbrella] I'm ready for ya!

Soli-chan: [bursts out laughing] XD You're funneh... "Well-known in the female community" indeed... Glad you like my work! Err... you'll find out more about Naraku in chapters to come; I don't want to spoil anything for you. shifty eyes And yah, Shippou's a computer geek.... Hope this counted as 'soon'!

HMPrune: I agree... that's just the first thing that popped into Sango's mind to cover for herself... They met in this chapter! A little more interaction in the next one... I think you'll like it. I don't think there will be any Inu/Kag, but I'm seriously not sure yet. As for Naraku... [twiddles thumbs] All will be revealed...

jade eyed neko: Thank you! The title came from my beta, Aamalie, so I can't take credit for that... [snaps fingers] ... but thanks for the compliment! Does this qualify as 'soon'?

Rikou Suiyou: XD [pokes you] Oh, behave! shifty eyes About Naraku... I can't really tell anything yet without giving a crapload of plot away... on the same token, I can't say anything about Miroku-san either, except - are you psychic? [puts on her foil hat from 'Signs'] I'm going to go hide in a corner now... but thanks very much for your kind review, Wakadori-chan! [bounces happily]

* * *

Wow. Overwhelmed by the response! Please, tell me what you think!


	3. A Ride

Disclaimer: Not mine. Nope. Uh-uh. . [shoves shakujou under bed] Eheh.

Notes: Whoo... I'm having fun with this fic... And I'm glad you all seem to like it! [glows]

Chapter 3: A Ride

"Er, Sango?"

The woman didn't even lift her head. "What?" Her voice was slightly slurred, her right hand wrapped around a glass. Her left hand pinned a bendy straw to the countertop, leaving it no chance to escape from her madly spinning world.

"I don't think I can let you drive like that." Miroku was wiping up the bartop, sporadically crossing to the sink and dropping a few glasses in. All of the patrons had left, save one, who was sitting in a corner. Tendrils of smoke rose from that corner occasionally, but other than that, they were seemingly alone in the bar.

"What do you mean by that?" she muttered, lifting her head. "I'm in perfect condition." She leaned to the side slightly and Miroku caught her sleeve and pulled her back upright.

"Well, I'm closing up here. And I told you, you can't drive like that."

Sango let out a pitiful moan. "Can't I sleep here?"

The person in the corner moved to the cash register. With an apologetic look at Sango, Miroku went to ring up the transaction. Once the door had shut behind the smoker, he returned to her, holding his coat. "Come on," he sighed.

As a bartender, Miroku had found himself in this position more times than he cared to count. Inexplicably, however, he found himself actually _caring_ whether or not Sango got home safe. Usually, if it took him this long to talk someone out of driving, he'd give up. If they agreed, he'd call a cab. For Sango, however...

"Where're we goin'?" Miroku guided the young woman to the door, shutting off the lights and stepping outside.

"I'm taking you home," he stated matter-of-factly, approaching the only car in the parking lot other than Sango's. "Where do you live?" When Sango either ignored him or couldn't answer, Miroku sighed, drawing on information that he had gained from overseeing her payment in the bar-

-and plunged his hand into her back pocket.

"HENTAI!" Sango screamed, coming out of her drunken stupor long enough to crack her hand across his face.

Miroku just blinked for a second, then held up his hand, clutching her wallet. "Driver's license. I'm going to take you home and you seemed unable to tell me your address." Rubbing his cheek, he sighed. _'Well, I could think of worse places that she could have hit me...'_

"Guh... I feel like crap..." Sango muttered.

Miroku sighed, peeking at her license. _'At least she doesn't live too far away...'_ "I'm going to take you home. I'll pick you up in the morning to come get your car. Until then, try not to empty your stomach on the upholstery."

He unlocked the passenger side door and slid Sango inside. "What gives you the right to drive me _anywhere_, bud?" she grumbled irritably.

"I have a Good Samaritan complex." Miroku slid into the driver's seat. "I see a psychiatrist twice a week, but I can't seem to stop helping people."

Sango gave a weak, inebriated chuckle. _'He's insane. Charming, but insane.'_

When Miroku turned into Sango's driveway fifteen minutes later, she was deeply asleep.

* * *

"Urrrrgh," was the most intelligent sound that Sango could force out of her mouth. Her head was throbbing, her throat was inexplicably sore, and the sun was beaming agony through her eyelids and directly into her brain.

Snuffling, she pulled the covers over her head. She was secretly glad for the relatively gentle awakening, though. Every day, she was roused either by the alarm or by the ringing of her phone.

Speaking of which, why hadn't she been awakened by the alarm or her phone?

Oh. Of course. She had been awakened by a pounding headache and a sudden urge to have a little confrontation with porcelain.

Making another semi-intelligent noise, this one of disgust, she semi-vaulted from the bed and scrambled for the bathroom, making it just in time. As her body told her (in a very noisome way) that it hadn't appreciated what she'd done to it the previous night, Sango's temples pounded stakes of pain into her head.

After her stomach was seemingly emptied, she slumped to her floor, trying to force her brain to think. _'Okay. Obviously I got very, _very_ drunk last night...'_ she concluded, reaching up and flushing the toilet.

Grimacing, she pushed herself back to her hands and knees and tried to collect her jumbled thoughts and ignore her churning stomach. She looked down and was mildly surprised to see day clothes in place of her normal large T-shirt that she usually slept in.

'_Why am I still in my clothes?'_ She raised her head enough to glance at her bedside table and continued to question the situation. _'Why's my phone off the hook? Where's my cell? Where's my GUN?'_

"Okay, think, think..." She pressed her palms to her temples (then dropped them as her headache intensified). "I threw my phone in the dash when I stopped at that club... I went in... met Nakano..."

She gave a cry of terror. "My car's still at that damn club!"

Sango leapt up from the floor - or tried to. All she managed was a half-hearted lurch. She groaned. _'How am I ever going to get through work like this? I'm late... I haven't been answering any calls... I'm going to have to listen to The Bastard rant... Arrrrgh!'_

After a few minutes had elapsed, she pushed herself to her feet and made her way to the shower without falling once - a commendable feat, in her opinion. She washed herself quickly but thoroughly, then wrapped her hair and her body in towels.

The shower hadn't magically erased her hangover, but she _did _feel better once she was clean. The nausea had receded, but she still felt as though small children were playing dodgeball in her brain - and weren't very good at it.

Scrubbing her face with one hand, she yanked open the medicine cabinet... which was empty of anything to alleviate her headache. Remembering that she sometimes kept medicines in a drawer in the kitchen, she exited the bathroom-

-and noticed a certain bartender sitting, quite calmly, on her bed.

Her eyes widened. "What in the HELL are you DOING in my HOUSE?" Her head immediately protested. _'Ow. Yelling bad. No more yelling.'_

Miroku rubbed the back of his head. "I honked the horn for ages! When you didn't answer, I came up to see if you were all right." He held up her keys and she snagged them, fuming.

There was a pause. "Uh, Sango?"

"_WHAT?_"

"Would you be interested in bearing my child?"

A small child dropped a pin outside on the sidewalk and it echoed through the house as Sango turned beet red, realizing that she was wearing little more than a towel. Yup... she was wearing _two_ towels. Joy.

She practically threw him from the room, slamming the door behind with with a decisive 'whack'. "You - downstairs - wait - painful death!" she raged, before giving herself over to the task of dressing.

Miroku climbed to his feet. Choosing to employ his selective hearing, he tuned out the 'painful death' and concentrated on the fact that Sango hadn't negatively responded to his question. Humming, he made his way down the stairs.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Sango had just discovered two painkillers and a glass of water on her bedside table.

* * *

As soon as Sango was fully dressed, she replaced the phone on the hook - and it immediately rang. She sighed. Kagome had probably been _sitting_ on the redial button for hours. She lifted the phone to her ear with trepidation, glad that the medicine had already taken effect; Kagome was sure to make it worse...

"Hello?"

"Sango! Did you get the papers yet? Naraku wants them signed and in his office by noon! Where have you been? Why haven't you been answering your phone? Do you know how worried we've all been? I-"

Sango hung up with a sigh. There was a moment of silence before the phone rang again. "Yeah."

Kagome's voice sounded sheepish. "Sorry."

"Forgiven. Just don't go ranting at me again. Just because you're my friend doesn't mean my temper knows that. Papers - noon - gotcha. Anything else that I have to know, work-wise?"

"Hm. Not really."

"Good. I'll sign the papers and bring them over once I pick up my car-" '_Damn... I walked right into that one...'_

"Why don't you have your car?"

Sango thudded her head against the headboard, wishing for her steering wheel. The leather had such a nice indentation in it. She stopped abruptly, however, when her headache threatened to intensify.

"Sango, you're going to kill lots of brain cells that way."

"One can only hope," Sango returned. "Long story. Short version: Me. Drunk. Bartender. Drove. Home. Bed. Bye!" She dropped the phone back on the receiver and, when it resumed ringing, she resolved not to answer it again. Snapping a ponytail holder around her wrist so that she could pull her hair up on the way, she put on her game face and stomped downstairs.

Miroku was waiting on her couch, and jumped to his feet as she entered the room. Sango pointedly ignored him, snagging the papers from the fax machine on the desk by the kitchen door and skimming through them. There were quite a few; consent forms, cover sheets, all waiting for her endorsement. It felt odd, knowing that the papers that she was holding in her hand were part of an application to kill the person who was, at that moment, breathing her air. No, not odd; it was unnerving.

She slid the papers into a folder from the desktop and tucked it under her arm. Maintaining her professional game face, she pulled the front door open and stepped outside. When Miroku - _Nakano_ - followed, she shut and locked her door. '_I have to stop thinking of him on a first-name basis,_' she decided. _'He's a target, not a friend.'_

She turned, facing his car, and held out her hand.

There was a pause in which her palm remained suspiciously empty.

"Your keys," she grated. "There's no way you're driving _this_ Miss Daisy while I have a say in the matter."

Nakano chuckled. His laughter wormed its way into Sango's façade and made her shift her weight a little. Couldn't he stop being so delectable? '_Wait. Delectable?'_

"It's _my_ car," Nakano returned, finally ceasing that irritably intriguing laugh. He unlocked the doors with a press of a button and dropped into the driver's seat. "Your carriage awaits," he called, grinning.

Sango stood there in shock for a moment. Never had someone gone up against her will and caused her to change it! Never! Didn't he know who she was?! Oh, wait. He didn't. Right then.

She climbed into the car, huddling as close to the door as she could without putting herself in danger of being sucked out of the window. "You are an arrogant bastard, you know that?"

He just grinned in a manner that said 'no' without leaving room for argument. Sango grumbled to herself and sunk lower in the seat.

'_Three weeks. Until then, I won't have to approach this guy ever again. Three weeks, and I'll be seeing him for the last time through the sight of my revolver.'_

Fumbling her hair into its normal ponytail, Sango realized that she wasn't considering that a happy thought.

* * *

Review Responses:

**HMPrune:** =D I agree! As a matter of fact, when I first started writing fanfic, I was oblivious to the joy that comes from Mir/San! Thanks for reviewing!

**shigromia:** Thank you! I guess I intend for it to be a bit humorous, seeing as how things are eventually going to get quite serious. [blushes at the 'applauded' line] Aww...

**Demon Exterminator Barbie:** [takes a moment to fall off her chair laughing at your username] LOVE IT! Okay, moving onnn... . Yeah... I don't think Sango's going to be so fond of it either... Ohhh... 'Twisted Mind' was deleted for 'chat-style dialogue' or something of the sort... [sighs] We all know how ff.net likes to be nitpicky. As for why Naraku wants Miroku dead.... [shifty eyes] Well, you'll just have to keep reading, huh? [winks]

**Kyoko Kasshu Minamino:** =D Interesting, yes yes! And Sango wouldn't dare attack me for the modeling thing... after all, it is I who holds the power in the keyboard! Muahaha! XD

**the littlest dinosaur:** You're silly. A good kind of silly, though! . I can't wait to see how Sango gets though it, either... XD See, I write what I want to read, and I find myself rereading some parts for the heck of it... Hee... ranting now. Thanks for your review!

**Irasuto:** I knowww... she has it bad... [looks at this chapter] Ah. She has it WORSE... XD I agree when you say that there will be no problem with her getting close to Miro-kun... it's just a matter of writing it out!

**keiran311:** Aww... thanks so much! Awww... o.O Say... that predicament sounds a little like mine... Mou... . Heyyy... I'd never flame a reviewer! That's like ASKING for trouble... Thanks for your review!

**Lily Thorne:** XD I'm glad that something can amuse you in the morning... Frankly, the only thing that amuses ME in the morning is someone telling me to get up... XD Thanks!

**Soli-chan:** I think that's the first time anyone's ever told me that they can 'relate' to Shippou. How... interesting... Heeeeh... I didn't really think that this fic was that funny until people began to point out certain lines, leaving me going "Oh, yeeeeah..." [blushes] Yeeeah!!! CHASMS rawks! Now I need to provoke Aamalie into updating it for us... [stares at you for a second] XD Okay, the 'optical' line made me laugh. You are truly insane... but cool! Nee... hope you passed your final! [throws hope your way] Thanks for the extra-long, delicious review!

**E. Marie:** Hee... I'm glad the update saved me from getting marshmallow-whacked...I'm very glad that you like this! If I remember correctly, you were one of the FIRST people to ever respond to me here... [hugs you tightly] I'm glad you like the way I'm working the plot, and yes, foreshadowing is supreme. [puts up little cartoon umbrella] Marshmallow ahoy, eh?

**DayDreamerz:** I know... that's going to come back later and haunt us all.... or just be a very fun plot point... thank you for reviewing!

**Sango'n'Miroku4ever:** XD I'm glad it was timely, then... I must admit, I couldn't imagine Sango modeling either... until I came up with a little loophole that I'll disclose at a later date. And yes... Miro-kun IS a bish... [sighs and hugs him] Thank you!

**Killer Goldfish:** I'm glad you enjoyed it! I annoy my own friends frequently about fanfics... but most of them are ignorant and just stare at me blankly until I burst into tears and run to the Internet to drown my sorrows in Mir/San... XD

**Aamalie:** [dances] Modeling RULES! I STILL haven't seen HP3... [dying... dying... dead... revives] I have a movie gift certificate and I STILL haven't seen it! [thumps self] Since I just sent you the next chappie... I'll assume that you now want the 'next next' chappie.... . Uhr... [runs]

* * *

Thank you, reviewers! You all motivate me so! [starry-eyed]****


	4. Back On the Job

Disclaimer: [turns out pockets] Nope.

A/N: Thanks, reviewers! And everyone, be sure to check out the little feature at the bottom done by Aamalie, since she's weird and amusing. XD Onward, me hearties!

Chapter Four: Back On the Job

When Nakano pulled up to The Dancing Buddha, Sango didn't even spare him a glance as she slammed the door open and shut. She was reaching for her car door, having unlocked it by sensor, when he grabbed her arm.

Sango whirled and glared into his (too close, too close) face. "You don't want to sneak up on me."

Nakano seemed to read the threat in her eyes and dropped his hand. "I just wanted to say that, no matter how inebriated half of our pair was, I enjoyed your company."

Sango snorted, pulling her door open. "Next thing, you'll be expecting a 'thank you'."

"Oh, of course not. All I did was stop you from driving home drunk and potentially crashing into a ditch or getting picked up by some creep or getting mugged. Nothing that warrants a 'thanks', I'm sure." His eyes were almost - hurt? Nah. She hadn't known him long enough to scathe him with words... right?

"Sorry, Nakano, but my idea of a Prince Charming died long ago. The best you can be in my book is the court jester."

Though Miroku's eyes remained subdued, he grinned. "If that's what it takes to be near you, I'll take the job." Before Sango could think up a reply, he had leaned close and brushed his lips across her cheek.

Sango's mind stuttered. _Wh-wha?_

Then, he was waving over his shoulder at her while striding back to his car. "I'll see you later, Sango!"

Sango blinked, raised a hand to her cheek, and warned herself not to blush. Slipping into the car, she didn't even put the key in the ignition; she waited for the telltale signs of Miroku's car starting up and pulling out of the parking lot.

After she was sure that he was gone, she composed herself, opened her dash, and pulled out her cell, clipping it to her belt. The long black coat had stayed at home today, traded in for a deep red dress shirt, thrown over her black tank top. The coat was fine for all-nighters, but it was overkill in broad daylight. She also slipped her main gun into her shoulder holster. Ah, another use for the shirt; it hid the straps quite nicely. The other, smaller gun was still at home under her pillow.

She slipped the earpiece into her ear as she started the car. Uttering the activation words, "Wake up", she listened to the computerized voice intone, "Say a name or a command."

"Voicemail."

"You have... twenty-eight new messages."

Sango cursed, and the phone promptly informed her that she had given an incorrect command. "Play," she amended, merging into traffic and making her way toward the office.

Most of the messages were Kagome's, and consisted of her screaming at Sango to pick up the phone, as if Sango had an answering machine and was screening her calls. Naraku had left one message, _only_ one, and it was nothing but a suggestion that it would be in her best interest to call his office when she got the message. Unsympathetic bastard. He wasn't even concerned.

One was Shippou's; he was gushing enthusiastically about a new species of bullet that he'd perfected. Smart kid.

Sango mentally ranted through the majority of the voicemail, however. _That devious little- oooh! Who does he think he _is_, anyway? I don't even _know_ him..._

The stream of messages ended as Sango pulled up to the inconspicuous office building that a passerby wouldn't have suspected to be FBI headquarters. She entered, crossed the deserted entrance hall, and tapped in a lengthy password. After scanning her ID badge (clipped neatly to her shirt), she stepped into the elevator and began the descent.

Music so old that it was rancid poured from the speakers, and Sango wrinkled her nose. _You'd think that a government facility would have decent songs..._

When the doors slid open and she swept into the cluster of cubicles like she had done the previous night, she did her best to avoid seeing anyone that she knew would question her. They'd be looking for her at her desk... Casting her eyes around, she spotted Shippou's desk - mercifully empty. He must have been working on those new bullets.

Sango slid into his desk and dropped the papers that Kagome had faxed onto it. She knew that Kagome was a very efficient worker, so she didn't bother to go over the minute details. Swiping a black pen from Shippou's desk (which was topped with an odd pink ball with eyes), she began to sign her name to the numerous sheets.

So engrossed with her work was she, that she didn't look up until a voice chirped from her shoulder. "Do you just want to trade _locations_ with me? I'd be grateful for your secluded little spot."

"Shut up, Shippou," Sango groused. Her head was still throbbing madly, and coupled with Miroku's forwardness, it had made her more than a little grouchy. "And what's up with this stupid pen top, anyway?"

The tech shrugged. "I like it. Plus, I hit it with one of my gadgets. It makes it easy to monitor who uses it. Watch." He clapped twice. The pen pulsed upward and jerked out of her loosely closed hand, clattering to the desk. The little pen-top squeaked "Hands OFF!" and fell dormant.

Sango stared at it for a long time. Then, she burst into uncontrollable laughter. She was dimly aware that it wasn't that funny, and she was also aware that she was attracting attention, but she didn't care. In some corner of her sleep-deprived, hung-over brain, the thought of a pen-bubble was enough to send her into hysterics.

Shippou just raised an eyebrow. "I'm getting you a latté _and_ a psychiatrist. Don't move."

"Sango!" The voice of a morning person caused the giggles to taper off. Sango hated morning people. Maybe because she wasn't one.

"Kagome... hi."

"Hi? All you have to say is _hi_? I've been so worried about you-"

Sango tuned her friend out. It was so easy to hang up on someone whilst on the telephone, but it was decidedly harder in person. After about five minutes and a dose of caffeine, she managed to cut Kagome off. "Look, I'm fine. The papers are-" She signed her name once more with a flourish, supressing a giggle at the pen. "-done, and I need to take them to The Bastard. Later."

Kagome's face fell, but then she nodded and handed Sango the load in her hands, which just happened to be the remainder of the application. "Yeah, I know... but you make us worry entirely too much, Sango. And we never hang out anymore. I miss you." She put on a puppy-dog face that only succeeded in making her look like a simpering panther.

Kagome had something planned. Sango could smell it.

"Fine, Kagome. Make your little plans. I'll bite." Sango made her way back to the elevator amid the sounds of excited squealing and shuffling paper. She punched the number to Naraku's floor. It was going to be an interesting day...

* * *

When Sango slipped into Naraku's office, he was engrossed in a telephone conversation. His desk chair was swiveled so that the back was facing her.

It's like I'm in a mafia movie... Sango mused, crossing her arms around her application and waiting for Naraku to notice her presence.

It didn't take long. As if he had been discussing something highly private, Naraku ended his phone call as soon as Sango was getting comfortable leaning against the closed door. He spun to face her, his elbows on the armrest and his fingertips together.

And now he's going to tell me that a long time ago, I got a favor from the Family...

"Ah. 'Jiya. So nice of you to join me."

Sango shrugged. "I've got the papers filled out and signed. Anything else, or can I get back to scrawing graffiti about you on the bathroom walls in purple lipstick?"

Naraku chuckled. "Your spirit is admirable, 'Jiya." He held out his hands for the papers, and Sango reluctantly crossed the office and handed them over. He didn't even look at them. "I need to turn in your license to carry with this, as well..."

Muffling an exasperated sigh, Sango reached for her back pocket and extracted her wallet. She always kept that license in an empty compartment, but as she quickly drew it out, something else came with it.

Miroku's card.

While Sango's business exterior held the card out Naraku, her interior was quivering. _Oh, great... if he sees that..._

It appeared that the Fates weren't exactly on Sango's side. Bypassing Sango's outstretched hand, he picked up the small card and perused it.

Sango swallowed hard. _Oooooh...._

Then, much to her amazement, Naraku began to laugh. Bewildered, Sango let her arm drop and hang loosely at her side.

"'Jiya, you never do anything halfway, do you? When Hiten came in this morning, telling me that he'd seen you in the bar with your target-"

Sango blinked. "You had me _followed_?" Her mind whirled. _The smoker..._

Ignoring her question, Naraku went on. "He told me that you seemed highly unprofessional, but now I see that you were procuring this excellent opportunity... to model, I assume?"

"Uh, actually, I wasn't planning to do that-"

"Don't be absurd." He waved his hand dismissively. "You'll take the job, of course."

"I'll do no such thing!"

The mirth vanished from Naraku's face. "It wasn't a question, 'Jiya." He held out his hand for her license again and took it, placing it on top of her completed application. He then returned the card. "Call him. You accept."

Sango just gaped. _He- I- That- OOOH!_ Turning on her heel, she stormed toward the office door, only pausing when her hand was on the doorknob. "I _hate_ you," she spat, slamming from the room hard enough to make the walls quiver.

Naraku spun his chair around once more, staring from the window. "I'm aware..." he murmured.

* * *

Oookay. Since Aamalie is the weird-ness, she made these up while beta-ing this chapter and sent them to me in an IM. I just couldn't resist putting them up, so here's:

****

The Beta Special!

Sango: [stomps into the office] Grrrrr...

Naraku: [pops up with evil grin and the usual "kukuku"] 'Jiya! Weapon license! El pronto!

Sango: [evil glare and mutters about evil bastards with control issues] Grrr... [pulls out card]

Miroku Card: [sound effects as it flutters down] [Plop!]

Naraku and Sango: [stare at it]

Sango: [frozen with weapon license extended] Oooooh shi- I mean, Grrrrrrrrr...

Naraku: [picks up card. Reads. Typical "kukukuku".] 'Jiya, why didn't you tell me about this?

Sango: [shifty eyes] Uh.... Grr?

====

Sango: Ow.. Headache... Ow... [totters out of bathroom]

Miroku: [sits on bed, blinking]

Sango: o.o; ............... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!?!?! Ouch... Yelling... Bad... Ach... Hairball, erm, I mean headache...

Miroku: o.O?

===

Miroku: [rubs back of head] I honked the horn for ages! When you didn't answer, I came up to see if you were all right. [dangles keys as demonstration]

Sango: [snatches keys, muttering about idiotic barkeepers who are barkeepers for a reason, the stupid man-whores...]

Miroku: [eyes where they don't belong] Uh... Sango?

Sango: ...What?

Miroku: [cheery grin and peace-sign] Would you be interested in bearing my child?

Sango: [drops towel from shock- and NOT the one covering her hair]

Censors: ON.

Miroku: [happy grin] I KNEW you had the makings of a model!

* * *

Review Responses

Demon Exterminator Barbie: XD Ohhh... I seee...[cracking up] Unique way to get a username! I find it very.. intriguing. Yeah... v.v;;; 'Twisted Mind' was killed... And hey! Bishie wet T-shirt contest wasn't _weird_... 'twas nummy. =) Aww... I don't think it was _mean_, per se, but it's just that if I get to talking about the plot too much, I'll get to changing things and messing things up until _I_ don't know what's going on... [sighs] Forgive me? oo You ickle hentai! [whacks you] Jeez. You do Miroku proud! Thanks for the long review, and I hope you enjoy(ed?) D.C. GC spotting, anyone?

Kyoko Kasshu Minamino: I'm glad you like! [wishes she could do the huge grin but CAN'T because ff.net is having an aneurysm] Eheh. . Hee... delectable Miroku! XD You... static-clung him to Sango's back? [dying of laughter] Yes, thou art evil...

rednblackangel: Thank you! Yeah... Sango's going to have her work cut out for her, that's for sure! I'm glad you like it!

HMPrune: XD Yes... those are plenty of good reasons to love Miro-kun into the ground... And as you saw in this chapter, she's going to have _plenty_ of opportunity to assess her feelings... [grins] Oooh... the 'turning against Naraku' part... well, it's still pretty far in the future, but I'm working on it! Hopefully, you won't be let down, ne?

Soli-chan: . Heyyy... Stop reading between my lines! XD Hee... I see your point, though. Oh, and I guess you've never seen '_Driving Miss Daisy_' then, huh? I understand... I didn't even _want_ to watch it. Basically, there's a chauffeur involved who carries out the title... so Sango was making vague references. Blah. [vaguely menacing look] Whoa... she was going to donate her eyes? Cool... Weird, but cool... [applause] Yay for passing your final... I'm still waiting for the results of my AP testing... I think I screwed them both up... . But I won't know until July, so I'm not thinking about it! Grrr... I missed a CHASMS conversation... [tears up] I'll just have to fight to be online, then! =) Thanks for the review; I had much fun reading it!

Blondie Hanyou: Ooookay... I'm sorry that you're in a bad mood... [sings] Don't worry.... be happy! Heh. Making more chapters, so don't worry! =)

Sango'n'Miroku4ever: [shifty eyes] Yup... waaaaay too good to be the bad guy... [lets you interpret that as you will] 'Anon'? [helpless giggles] You're funny... but inventive! =) I hope this is 'anon' enough! [snicker]

the littlest dinosaur: Oh, definitely the good silly! Sheesh, there needs to be a definite distinction in the dictionary! [winks] And yeah, as you can tell, Kagome and Sango's friendship is reeeally something special... What _type_ of special, however, I leave up to you. [grins and goes off to rant somewhere] Thanks for reviewing!

keika: Thank you! I'm glad that you think it's original!

Blackcat8610: Heyyy... don't be so swift to claim a favorite chapter! More situations are yet to come! Ooh! Gold star! [sticks it on forehead and goes off acting superior] Hee, impressions are fun! Thanks for the review, and I hope this was soon enough (though probably not... [sigh]).

DayDreamerz: Heh. Yeah. I had problems imagining it too... until I wrote it... then I giggled my butt off. I'm glad you found it amusing! =)

Rin Katt: Heh. I'm taking the "O.O" as a good thing, eh? =) I hope this was soon enough... but you MUST tell me what on earth you would do with those seemingly random items... [runs off to hide from you]

Aamalie: O.O;;; NOOOOO!!!! Not the NAME! ANYTHING but the name! Wait. I didn't just say 'anything', by the way... XD You keep prodding, and I'll keep writing, capische? (oO I knoooow that that probably wasn't spelled right...)

Lily Thorne: Heh. Once more, I'm glad it amused you! oO You think Sango's falling fast? Weird... I thought she was going about it rather slowly... Heh. As for the fast fluff, ehhhh.... [shrugs] Who knows? [evilly cackles and goes off to terrorize children and kittens]

* * *

Won't you click the button? [puppy dog eyes]


	5. Chateau Chantre

Disclaimer: Story? Yes. Characters? v.v No.

A/N: Oh, this chapter was quite fun... I'm enjoying myself! [huge grin] Reviewers, as always, thank you much!

Chapter 5: Chateau Chantre

After a day of uneventful case analysis and research on the arson cases that were allegedly connected with Nakano, Sango came to a conclusion.

Telephones were of the devil.

She sat in her cubicle, her chin in her hands, glaring at the phone as if hoping that it would melt, preventing her from having to make The Call.

Crap. She was even thinking of it in capital letters.

She wasn't sure why she was so apprehensive. After all, she reasoned, Nakano meant nothing to her. Perhaps it was the fact that she'd never had to speak so closely and so frequently with someone that she planning to bring into custody - or in this case, kill.

Taking a deep breath, she reached for the receiver, praying that she wouldn't get a dial tone. No such luck. Staring down at the card, she made an enlightening discovery...

The number on the card was that of the art professor; Miroku's name was just listed as an assistant.. she wouldn't have to speak to him at all!

Emboldened, she punched in the numbers. She listened to the ringing until the click of an answering machine came over the line.

"_Professor Hijyuu Myouga isn't here at the moment. Leave a message and_-"

Sango clicked the phone back down. She hadn't called to talk to a machine; besides, she had an idea to preserve her... ahem... modesty during her modeling escapade; in order to negotiate her terms, she'd have to speak to an actual person.

Feeling like a crisis had been narrowly avoided, she stood, picking up the card and standing. _Time to search out Kagome..._ she mused, craning her neck to look toward the tech's cubicle.

She wasn't there. Sango frowned. How irresponsible... She made as if to walk out of her own cubicle-

-and walked straight into her tech.

"Ow!" Kagome stumbled backward, trying to steady herself and prevent a fall. Sango sighed and stuffed the card into her pocket.

"What a coincidence. I was just looking for you."

Kagome blinked. "Uh... why?"

"You had something planned for tonight, unless that was my headache talking."

The tech brightened. "Oh, yeah! I wanted you to- well... let it be a surprise!"

Sango raised an eyebrow. The last time Kagome had said that, Sango had ended up nearly shooting every person in her house who Kagome had invited over for an impromptu birthday party.

Kagome seemed to realize where Sango's mind was going, because she hastily added, "Come on... trust me!"

Sango sighed. The last time Kagome had said _that_...

Regardless of her misgivings, she nodded. Kagome clapped her hands together. "Great! Let's get to your house and get you changed!"

Sango scoffed. "What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?"

After giving an appraising look, Kagome said, haltingly, "Well... you're... I mean, you look fine, but... er..."

"Okay," Sango yielded. "If you're done for today, let's get out of here."

"Great!" Kagome tugged at Sango's arm, leading the other woman to trot behind her as they wound their way out of the cluster of work stations and into the elevator.

* * *

A mere twenty minutes later, Sango was sitting on her bed, her head in her hands, listening to the sounds of an enthusiastic friend going though her closet.

"Yeesh, Sango! Don't you have anything that's not black or from the men's section?"

Sango's head snapped up. "Hey! I hope you're not suggesting that I have no fashion sense?"

"Of course not! You look like... what you are." Kagome finished, rather lamely.

"Exactly. Why should I try to look like something I'm not?"

But Kagome wasn't listening. She'd unearthed a mid-length black skirt. "Oh, this is perfect! Now for the shirt... and before you ask, no you _can't_ wear a t-shirt."

Sango accepted the skirt and scrutinized it. She strongly suspected that it had been given to her by Kagome herself, and shoved to the back of the closet...

"Ooh! This is the one!" The tech emerged from the closet, holding a deep pink, clingy tank top aloft.

"You really think I'm wearing that?"

"No..." Kagome grinned. "I _know_ you're wearing it. Now change, so that we can go!"

Sango groaned, snatched the shirt, and slammed into the bathroom. She didn't need Kagome peering over her shoulder and squealing while she got dressed.

There was a long pause once Sango had gotten into the clothes. An anxious Kagome called from the other side of the door. "Well? How does it look?"

Another pause, then, "...I think I hate you."

"Sango!" Kagome wrenched the door open and went through quite a series of actions; she stared, squealed, and steered Sango into the bedroom for a better look.

"I've outdone myself this time!"

Sango stared drily at her reflection in her full-length mirror. The top seemed to adhere to her more curvy places, and the skirt was just this side of decent.

Which side of decent was negotiable...

Sticking her feet in her boots and throwing on a light black jacket, she surveyed her reflection again. "I guess I can make this work..."

Kagome just grinned. "I knew you would say that!" Then, with a swift motion, she plucked Sango's ponytail holder from her hair, letting it cascade over her shoulders.

"Kagome!"

The other woman shrugged. "You leave it up all the time. I figure that you have to let it down sometime, or it'll get stuck that way."

Sango groaned resignedly but let Kagome brush out her hair. "I look like FBI Barbie."

Kagome snickered. "Speaking of which, where are you putting your gun?"

Sango sighed. "Can't carry it. Naraku took my license to-"

Kagome produced Sango's license from her back pocket. "Heh. I was supposed to give this to you before, but I... sorta forgot..."

Sango glowered and snatched it. "Kagome, I love you, but you're an airhead."

The tech sighed. "I know..."

Tucking the license into her wallet, Sango unearthed a black purse from under her bed. "I hate carrying these..." she muttered, stuffing her wallet inside, closely followed by the small gun (on safety), which she had retrieved from under her pillow. "Okay. We're gone."

A moment later, Sango wondered vaguely why Kagome insisted on _dragging_ her everywhere...

* * *

Kagome drove her car, refusing to let Sango take her own. When Sango asked why, Kagome just replied that she didn't want Sango skipping out on her.

Sango understood once they pulled up at their destination. If she had had her car, she would have driven off without a second thought.

"A poetry café?" Sango stared at the building, which was topped with a mug of tea that had a feather quill extending from the top.

"Yep!" Turning off the engine and tucking her keys in her purse, Kagome grinned over at her friend. "You'll love it, I promise!"

"Have you ever _been_ here before?"

Kagome chewed her lower lip. "Well... no. But I've been to poetry readings and I've been to regular cafés before!"

Sango rolled her eyes at Kagome's unquenchable spirit. "Fine. Let's go, then."

The door was made of darkly tinted glass, and as the pair entered, they were confronted with a chilly burst of air conditioning and a wisp of soft music on the air. A wide stage was on the wall opposite; a guitarist sat on one side, a man with bongo drums on the other. Apparently, at the moment, no one was reading. Circular tables dotted the center of the floor, and booths lined the walls. The tables were already full of chattering people who all seemed to be discussing what they would be performing later.

Still smiling, Kagome dragged Sango to a vacant booth. As they took their seats and picked up the menus that lay in the center of the table, Sango felt herself unconsciously relaxing. The atmosphere was calm and stress-free, and there was no work to do, no Bastard to scream at...

"Can I help you ladies?" a voice inquired from beside their table. Both jumped; they hadn't noticed the man approach. As Sango looked him over, she quickly came to the conclusion that he was nothing like any waiter that she'd ever seen before.

For starters, his hair was long. Very long. Although he was facing them, she could see the tip of a long braid peeking from behind his back... and from what she saw, his hair looked... well... _white_. A black hat was pulled low over his face, and his eyes were hidden behind very dark sunglasses. He was dressed in all black, and chains clanked at his side.

Finally averting her gaze, Sango ordered hot tea; Kagome followed suit. While waiting for the tea, they planned to decide on something to eat. Sango hadn't eaten all day, since the finally-dissipated hangover had pretty much killed her appetite.

Kagome's eyes followed the waiter until he was out of sight, then she sighed. "I wish I could've seen him without the shades..."

Sango coughed. "Kagome, is there ever a time when your mind _isn't_ on guys?"

"Well, yeah... maybe." When Sango snorted, Kagome pressed on. "Hey, it's good to be a _little_ boy-crazy! Who knows, you just might find someone..."

Sango peered across at her friend. "Oh, sure. I'm going to get a guy who'll be spouting poetry at me every nine seconds..." She mimicked a man's deep voice. "'Your lips are like the reddest of cherries...'"

Kagome giggled and joined in the game. "'...Like firetrucks or ripe strawberries!'"

"'I want to kiss you and hold you forever...'"

"Crap, that's a hard one... Um..." Kagome put a finger to her mouth in thought, but a voice from behind her finished the stanza.

"How about...'To be in your arms is my greatest endeavor.'?"

Sango glanced at the back of the adjacent booth and her stomach dropped to her toes. _It _can't_ be..._

The man's eyes were fixed directly on Sango's... his _violet_ eyes...

* * *

Eheh. Corisu HAD a Beta Special from Aamalie-chan... but she lost it. vv;; Gomen, everyone... I won't lose the next one... Eh. Feel free to pelt me with things, now...

* * *

Review Responses

Sangowindwarrior: Heh... I know, I'm rther evil sometimes, huh? And as for the 'cheating' aspect... well, I AM an authoress... Which isn't really an excuse, but... [shrugs] I live on the edge... Besides, I was under the impression that most of the story was interesting... ;-;

AnImEmAnIaC3: (Hey! I did it! [pointing happily at your name]) Heh. Yes, Sango/Miroku rox. =) I'm glad you like the storyline! Heh. I hope this was fast enough for you (a day later than your review... eh, I would HOPE so...)!

FlamingRedFox: vv Yeah... I know it was short... Sorry. I'm trying, but the chapters would probably take a bit longer to post if I tried to stretch them to 8 pages or so. Plus, sometimes, where I stop them is just before a change of pace, or scenery... but believe me, I make them as long as I can without messing up the flow.

Demon Exterminator Barbie: Heh. As you may be able to tell, you have a little tribute in this chapter... it just happened when I wrote it... XD And her cell phone? It's modeled on my own... [huge grin] I can just say "Wake up" and it does all these nifty functions. I knuuu... I liked Shippou's pen as well! I just needed a random hysterical object... XD Heh. Yeeeeah.. the modeling thing isn't coming up as fast at I'd hoped... but it is eventually getting here! Sheesh, the pains I go through to advance the plot. Yeah. The Beta Special... weird DOES sum it up nicely... XD Eep! [is whacked] Owww... [laughing] You're a hentai by association! =) Heh. I'm very glad you had fun, and now I'm glad you're back! [glomps you] . Illegal? Eh, don't worry, I won't tell anyone... XD As always, thanks for the review!

Rin Katt: Ooooooookaaaayyy... [hides] Your diabolical plots scare me. Heh... . But I hope I escaped your wrath with this one, ne?

Xichiathik: =) I'm glad you thought it was 'cute'... and I'll keep it up. (I like this fic too much to quit!)

Lily Thorne: XD Okay.... fine... no hurting kitties... [stares blankly at spider for a moment] AAAAGH! SPIDER! [freaks and throws it, then runs in circles] Ew. Ew. Ew. Glad you liked the chapter! Oh, my gosh, ew....

Kyoko Kasshu Minamino: =) 'Tis schway? Cool! XD [stares at you for a moment]... "Love is evol"? [creeps to phone] Uhh, hello... I know someone that you need to pick up... and don't forget the snug-fitting white jacket...

HMPrune: XD Yay for the fun-ness! I knoww... Sango just overreacts, doesn't she? Heh. And the 'court jester' thing... I don't know about 'change'. It might 'vary'... after all, she'd need someone to make her laugh... [grins]

Blackcat8610: Heh. I see, well, I'm glad you like the funniness! XD I like Shippou's pen, as well... A little randomness mixed with technology! =) Heh... As for what trouble is in store for Sango... well, let's just deal with the fun stuff first, huh? winks

Soli-chan: XD Darn loopholes that you can misinterpret... Heh... she fell for him the moment she called him a whore? Eh, perhaps... We must wait and see. XD As for that review from LMN... Funny! I think I'm the reason they incorporated the 'whore' thing... 'Twas funny... though now, we think Personification of Fluff started it first... Oh, well. Urgh. Yeah, AOL is the suckage sometimes... [shrugs] Anyway, thankies much for the review! Much love-ness! =)

DayDreamerz: [laughs] Yes... Aamalie IS weird, huh? And funny...

Aamalie: . bounce Yay! You wouldn't be that mean! WHOO! celebrating XD I'm hard to stay mad at? Eh, so are you, so I guess it all fits, ne? =) (Gosh, I HATE that smiley.. ;-; If ff.net doesn't get its stuff together soooon...)

Queenizzay: o.O You are odd... But you reviewed! WAI! [glomps] Heh... I'm glad to see that you're 'spreading the word', as it were... XD And yes, the Beta Specials rock sox. =) [stares at Naraku] Whew... what a way to go... XD

* * *

Quick note: Chateau Chantre = Poet's Castle. Mou. Sounds much better in French.****

Review, please!


	6. Suspicions

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is mine! [hugs plushie, then looks around curiously] What?

A/N: Reviews ROCK! I love you guys so much... Just wanted to let you guys know (if you haven't read my bio) that I'll be out of town from July 18 to August 1. I'm going to try to post at least one more chapter before I leave though... Now, on to fic-ness! (According to Aamalie, ish rather short. I think I agree. v.v;;;)

Chapter 6: Suspicions

Miroku grinned happily at Sango from over Kagome's head. "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?"

Kagome glanced at Sango, then at Miroku, then back at Sango. "Uh... who's this?"

For a moment, Sango panicked. Then, she remembered: Kagome didn't know the name of her target; that information had been in the FYEO envelope. Sighing, she answered, "Nakano Miroku. He's the bartender that I mentioned."

Kagome blinked for a second, then grinned. "Ohh... you mean the one you got in bed with?"

Sango reddened. "_Kagome_..."

The other woman laughed. "Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of-"

"We _didn't_-"

"And at least he's cute-"

"Kagome-"

"-so as long as protection was involved-"

"KAGOME! Nothing... happened!"

"Oh." Kagome looked almost disappointed. "Right then... So, Mr. Nakano, care to join us?"

Sango twitched at Kagome's suggestion as Miroku answered, "Why not? And it's Miroku, please." He slipped from his own booth and into theirs... sitting right beside Sango, who was trying to bore holes into Kagome's head with her eyes.

"Here's your tea." Kagome and Sango jumped again when the waiter spoke; once more, they'd been oblivious to his approach. He placed the tea in front of the girls, then nodded to Miroku. "Hey."

"Hello, Inuyasha. Busy day?"

"Feh. You wouldn't believe it... There's this girl near the stage who's insisting that her tea be made _just right_ so that she can keep her voice in order." He scoffed. "She sounds like a crow."

Miroku laughed. "When does your shift end today?"

"After I'm done here... Speaking of which, are you girls ready to order?"

Kagome was staring blankly at Inuyasha, and Sango had to kick her under the table (as inconspicuously as she could) before she replied. "Oh! Uh... Sango, want to eat foreign tonight?"

"Like how?"

"Pizza and fries?"

Comfort food. Sango knew where this was going... Kagome only ordered foreign food when she was trying to set someone up... Even so, Sango knew when she was beaten, and with a furtive glance at Miroku, she sighed her defeat. "Sounds fine."

Inuyasha nodded, then made for the kitchens.

Kagome watched him go. The words 'tight butt' were probably flashing through her mind. Sipping at her tea, Sango realized that seeking conversation with Kagome was a lost cause. Instead, she turned her attention the the man beside her. "Friendly with the waiter, I see."

Miroku shrugged, giving her a cheerful grin. "We've been through a lot of the same things. I guess you could say that we relate to each other."

"How so?"

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "That, dear Sango, is personal."

Sango pointedly ignored the 'dear' and took another sip of her tea. It was obviously infused with chamomile; it was opening her sinuses quite nicely. "So... care to share why you're stalking me?"

"Stalking you?" Miroku laughed. "I was here before you arrived. It's just your lack of observational skills that caused you to miss me."

"Shut up, Nakano," she returned good-naturedly. For some reason, without a pounding headache and the desire to throw up, he was much less irritating...

"Call me Miroku."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because calling you that would indicate that I'm close to you... which I'm not."

Miroku's face broke into a huge grin. Before Sango could react, he had thrown his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to his side. "But you _are_ close to me..."

Sango blinked and a pink tint rose into her cheeks. She opened her mouth to reply when she felt something on her chest...

Something that _squeezed_.

"Hentai!" With a solid swing, she smacked him hard on the right cheek, causing him to nearly topple from the booth. The people closest to them stared at the spectacle.

All the time, Kagome had been watching the exchange, smiling faintly. As Miroku pulled himself upright once more, looking warily at a fuming Sango, she sighed. "You two would make the perfect couple..."

"What?!" Sango demanded. "He's a pervert-"

"I am not. I just have an overdeveloped sense of appreciation for the female gender," Miroku interjected, rubbing his cheek.

Sango's eyebrow twitched. "You have an overdeveloped sense of appreciation for being slapped..." she muttered.

Miroku grinned. "Only by you, Sango."

Sango couldn't help the blush. Luckily, she was saved from the conversation by the return of Inuyasha, who was balancing the pizza in one hand and the tray of fries in the other. The girls slid their tea to the side to make room (Kagome's was untouched), and the waiter set the food down. He also put the ticket that they would have to take up to the cashier beside Kagome.

Kagome immediately dug in, lifting a huge slice of pizza to her mouth. Sango reached for the ketchup and attacked the fries. The guys just stared for a moment, watching them.

Regaining himself, Inuyasha spoke. "Oi, Miroku. I need to talk to you about something."

Miroku slid from the booth. "Sure. Now girls," he said jokingly, "don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Sango rolled her eyes. "Which leaves us free to do just about anything, huh?"

Miroku just laughed, then followed Inuyasha in the direction of the kitchens.

A loud squeal of feedback rent the air, and for the third time that night, both girls jumped. Kagome began to choke on a piece of pizza crust, and Sango leaned across the table and pounded on her back to dislodge it.

While that melodrama was taking place, a young woman with short hair cut into a bob who was wearing a liberal amount of lipstick had taken the stage. "Hello, everyone, and welcome to Chateau Chantre! I'm Yura, and I'll be your MC tonight! We have six poets lined up, and then we'll have our normal Open Mic session. Without further ado, here's..."

Yura announced the first poet, and an old man took the stage; he looked as if he was about fifty. Sango wasn't paying much attention to the poet however; her eyes were tracing the path that Inuyasha and Miroku had taken.

Even though Miroku _seemed_ to be a nice guy, it was in Sango's best professional interests to see him as a _target_. Therefore, her antennae had risen at Inuyasha's request for the two to meet alone. The waiter didn't look like someone that the seemingly light-hearted Miroku would willingly associate with... and Sango still wanted to know how they related to each other.

Looking around, she found her excuse. The bathroom was located in the same direction that the two had gone.

For a split second, Sango considered telling Kagome about Miroku... but then she quenched the idea. Kagome may have been very carefree when with her friends, but when it came to work, she was usually deadly serious. If she'd had any inkling that Sango's relationship with Miroku wasn't that of hunter/hunted, she would immediately report it.

Not that their relationship _was_ anything but hunter/hunted. Right.

"I'm going to the bathroom, Kagome," Sango informed her friend, snagging her purse.

"M'kay." Kagome's mouth was full of pizza, and she was intently listening to the old man on stage, who seemed to be ranting about his grandchildren.

Sango began to wind her way toward the bathroom, intending to follow the men's path as closely as she could. It wasn't long before she spotted them. They were speaking in low voices, hidden from the rest of the café in a dimly lit alcove. Sango edged closer, catching only a few words of the conversation.

"...seen anything?" Miroku was asking.

"Not.... They're looking, but... doubt... safe." Inuyasha responded.

Sango cursed to herself and crept even closer. That last sentence hadn't made any sense at all; if she was to get information, she had to be able to _hear_...

"Why aren't... here?"

"You know that... have their.... They can't leave... house. Kan... looking."

Damn it! Sango moved still nearer to them. Miroku was leaning back against the wall, and Inuyasha was facing him, with his back to Sango. She could probably get pretty close without them noticing... Then, she caught her first full sentence:

"If you find out who's on me, let me know."

Sango's breath caught. _Does he _know _that we're targeting him? No... impossible... we're too careful..._

"...now." Inuyasha had been speaking while Sango had been lost in thought, and she realized that their conversation was wrapping up. As swiftly and quietly as she could, she retraced her steps and rejoined Kagome at the table.

"That old guy was pretty good," Kagome mused when Sango sat down. "Very passionate. And you missed two other ones."

"Whatever you say, Kagome." Sango's mind was still on what she'd overheard. If Miroku was worrying about someone following him, then that had to mean that he was guilty... unless he was talking about something entirely different. And _who_ couldn't leave _where_? Who was _looking_? Shrugging, Sango pushed the information to the back of her mind. If she acted tense or different, Miroku or Inuyasha would know that something was up. Returning to her fries, she gave her attention over to the stage, now occupied by a tall, lanky woman.

It wasn't long before Inuyasha and Miroku returned. The former sat beside Kagome, while Miroku claimed his previous seat, grinning at Sango. Sango sent him a typical scowl, her behavior back to normal... though she couldn't help stealing looks at Miroku and wondering.

* * *

The Beta Special!

Sango: [trying to bore holes into Kagome's head with a glare]

Kagome: [winces as a hole appears just behind her ear] Crap... Not another one...

Sango and Miroku: o.O;

===

Kagome: So, Mr. Nakano, care to join us?

Sango: [twitch]

Miroku: Why not? And it's Miroku, please. [slips from booth]

Ground: [turns to ice]

Miroku: [slips and falls facedown into Sango's lap]

Sango: OO;;;;;;;;; HENTAI! [shoves him off]

Miroku: [falls onto ice and slides around café]

Kagome: Well, that didn't take as long as I'd expected...

Sango: What are you talking about? You don't even know him...

Kagome: Er... well... I kind of read the last few chapters...

Sango: Oi... [bonks head onto table]

* * *

Review Responses

LiL psYch0: Heh. Yup, Sango's attitude is definitely one of the more fun things to write, an dI was hoping that others would find it funny... . You thought 'Chateau Chantre' was food? Eh.... I actually didn't mean to name that chapter that. v.v Flub on my part. Oh, well... Glad you liked!

E. Marie: XD I've never seen anyone use country music as a review before, but it works! =D It's no problem that it wasn't that 'creative' (as you say). Just the fact that you reviewed is enough to leave me squealing in joy!

shigromia: XD This story loves you too... As you can see, Kagome was a little more aloof in this chapter, and Sango was... well... her normal self. . And yes, Naraku-ness qualifies as a word, simply because I say so. =D [hands you an FBI Barbie] Limited edition!

Vilja: Heh... Yeah, Kagome was a little assertive with getting Sango dressed up and out, huh? And about the modeling... well, you'll see in the next chapter. Thanks for the review!

AnimeAngel3326: [grins] You're enthusiastic... Thank you! and you can see above who the waiter was... =D I had been wondering where I was going to bring him in. . And if _I_ saw violet eyes, I would probably drool. [laughs] Hope this was soon enough for you!

Killer Goldfish: XD Suuure... because every other person you meet has violet eyes in Japan... [laughs] You had a dream about the pen? . I'm afraid to ask. Thank you for the review!

Demon Exterminator Barbie: =D You're silly... and I don't _think_ you've been leaving subliminal messages... then again, your username _is _a subliminal message, so... XD There was a lot of special-ness set up for you in that chapter, huh? You deserve it! It's Make Corisu Feel Special Day when I read a long review from you! =) Yup. The phone exists. And it is mine. And it's currently spazzing and I'm about to get another one once my grandma changes plans. v.v; My poor cell... XD You know, you're right. He _is _a pervert any time... well, at least she'll preserve her modesty in front of the rest of the class. Mmm... Shakespeare. [waves Shakes!! banners] Hmm.... Miro-kun, a good poet? Perhaps... =) You know who the waiter is now, ne? Sesshou's coming in later, though if I keep talking about it, I'll tell you where, and I want it to be a surpriiiiise... =D Oh, and I figured that bringing demons into the world would just make it overly insane, so Inu has regular ears... I might give Sesshou wrist tattoos, though... [grins and is glomped] Thanks for reviewing!

Rin Katt: [pushes fingertips together] I knuuu.... Even though there really have been no Evil Cliffies of Doom in this fic as of yet, I am still the Mistress of them. =) But that's not to say that there will _be_ no cliffies... oh, on the contrary... I hope this chapter came soon enough!

Matsemunei: =) Glad you liked! I'm having as much fun writing this as everyone else is having while reading it! And yes, I suppose there are quite a few people who like this fic already. [dance of joy] The model scene is coming... in about... two chapters? Eh, I dunno. I don't have it all planned out yet... Thanks for reviewing!

Blackcat8610: XD Why yes, yes I did have fun writing that last chapter. How could you tell? [grins happily] The 'telephones were of the devil' line actually came from one of my friends. She's always saying that things are 'of the devil'... I get fic inspirations from _everywhere_... And yup, Sango's not going to go quietly, that's for sure. XD Yay for trouble! Thanks for the review!

KuroKage: =D Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it. I hope I updated fast enough for you!

Soli-chan: . [bashes you upside the head with a rubber mallet] Let. It. Go. [hides all available loopholes] I agree with you about the jester thing and making her laugh... that'll probably come up later. Oh, and about the stalking thing, you saw in this chapter that it was just a SAP-induced coincidence! [halo] Hmm... Stalk to protect, huh? I would think that it'd be the other way around. XD You are insane... but I can understand everything that you've brought up as a loophole. . As for spoiling the story... ehhh... not _really_... if anything, you're subliminally influencing a few choice lines in the story... =D [hugs you] Thanks!

FlamingRedFox: =) I'm glad it was fun to read; it was fun to write as well! I'll do my best to keep it up, and thank you for the review!

AnimeAnna22: [is hugged] =) Yay! Someone's getting the word out! [grins] I'm glad you like what I write! . Eh... babysitting... luckily, I haven't done that in a while. When I do, it's three kids, two of which are perpetually hyper... [eyes knife, wiggles nose and it becomes a carrot] Muaha. Fast enough chapter for you?

EliteRedLion: . Don't review stuff, huh? [grins] Well, I'm glad you reviewed this! Thanks a lot, and I assure you, it was sufficient...

Lily Among The Thorns-89: Yes! PH34R updates! . Oiii... I haven't been reading like I should have been... Actually, I'm doing nothing but economics work and 'Lies' chapters lately... Heh. As much as Kagome looks like the mastermind behind the meeting, she was as oblivious as Sango was... [eyes squished spider] Eh, it is forgiven. =D Thanks for the review!

Baybe-Dinez: =D I'm glad it was to your liking! Action/adventure is rather hard to write with fluff, but rest assured, I'll make it happen. I love fluff. Perfect? Hmm... I wouldn't say that. She has her problems, though, as you'll se later... XD You're odd... I'm glad you liked it, and I hope this update was fast enough for you! Oh, and about the eyeshadow... hmmm... well, you can assume that she's wearing it in the café... as for on missions... probably not. I can't see her getting all pretty to arrest someone... =)

DayDreamerz: --;; I shall assume that you liked the chapter as well, eh? Don't worry, I'll make sure to save the Beta Specials in the future. Thanks for reviewing.

anhimals: I'm glad that the plot is to your liking. And Sango and Miroku _do_ make the perfect couple! I luffle them so! [hugs them both] I hope this update was soon enough!

* * *

****

Review, please!


	7. Conversation

Disclaimer: IY and all affiliated stuffies are not mine.

A/N: No Beta Special this time. Why? Because Margo didn't write one and she's not online right now... Instead, thou shalt have an Authoress Special, done by little ol' me. I'm not as insane as she is - [cough, yeah right, cough] - but I hope it's a nice substitute. I'm going to try to get chapter 8 out before I leave, and if I can write while I'm gone, chapter 9 will be up on the 1st or 2nd.

Chapter 7: Conversation

Inuyasha was trying to ignore the fact that the girl sitting beside him was staring. It was pretty easy at first; all he had to do was pretend to be interested in Yura announcing that Open Mic was about to begin. It was much, _much_ harder to act indifferent, however, when he felt a tug on the end of his braid.

"Oi, wench! What're you doing?"

Kagome smiled winningly. "Seeing if it's a wig. And the name's not wench. It's Kagome."

Inuyasha blinked. "Right. And my hair interests you because...?"

"Well, it's intriguing. It's so long... is it all yours?"

"Yeah."

Kagome just snorted doubtfully, reaching for another slice of pizza and taking a big bite. When she had adequately cleared her mouth of food, she responded. "Suuure."

"Wh- it's-" Voicing a growl of utter frustration, Inuyasha removed his hat. Since he hardly _ever_ removed his hat in public, the hair underneath was slightly matted and messy. "See? It's all naturally attached."

"Oh..." Kagome responded, taking a sip of her lukewarm tea and grimacing. "So... is that your real hair color?"

Inuyasha jammed his hat back on his head and crossed his arms. "Of course."

"Suuure."

He groaned in exasperation. "I'm not some prissy little hair-dying moron, you know!"

"Uh-huh." Kagome bit into her pizza once more, her eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"I mean it!"

"Mm." She swiped a few of Sango's fries.

"...Feh. I don't have to explain myself to you." Inuyasha turned to the stage once more. The drama queen from earlier was taking the mic from a very annoyed Yura and waving at the crowd like a diva. He was once more successfully forgetting the the girl beside him existed, until-

"Would you _quit_ tugging my _hair_?!"

* * *

While Kagome and Inuyasha were engrossed in hair trivia, Sango and Miroku had engaged each other in conversation.

"Being a bartender really isn't all that glamorous," he was saying. "Sure, there's the horde of beverages that will get you good and drunk, but it's nothing like the movies."

"Nothing like what movies?"

"You know, where an armed gunman bursts in to rob the cash register and the quick-thinking, heroic, brave, handsome bartender smashes him over the head with a bottle of Chardonnay and saves the day."

Sango knawed the end of a fry absently. Her appetite had mostly abated. "Sooo... what you're saying is that you're not quick-thinking, heroic, or brave?"

Miroku smirked. "I see that you left 'handsome' off that list."

"Shut up." She was grinning, however. Of course Miroku was handsome... "Okay, being serious... you're saying that you _want_ to get robbed?"

"Not necessarily. I just mean that it's rather drab. You serve drinks, break up the occasional barfight, and wash glasses. On the upside, however," he shot her a charming smile, "you sometimes get to drive beautiful women home."

"Shut up, Nakano," she restated, proud of herself for fighting back the blush.

"Okay, okay." Miroku held up his hands in mock surrender. "It's your turn to talk anyway. So... what kind of work do you do?"

Sango was halfway through the sentence before she remembered that she couldn't tell him the truth. "I'm a f... florist." Having been on the edge of saying 'federal agent', Sango had picked the first career that jumped into her head that began with an 'f'. Coincidentally, it was the least flattering.

Kagome must have heard, because she reached over and stole a handful of Sango's fries to get her attention. When Sango looked at her, the other woman smirked, giving her a look that said 'We are sooo going to laugh at you later'. Rolling her eyes, Sango turned back to Miroku.

"That's an interesting job... Where do you work?" Miroku's posture was open and genial, giving Sango a glimpse into his motives for asking the question. He wasn't just asking about her job because it was socially polite; he was genuinely interested. Now to give him an answer that he'd believe...

Wracking her brain, Sango answered, "I'm between jobs. I just quit my last one because my boss was a complete Bastard." Deciding to siphon off a little of her Naraku-hatred, she added, "Capital letter and all."

"Ah. I see. That's why I hope my art career branches off. You're your own boss in that field, you know." Miroku's eyes sparkled suddenly, and a slow grin spread across his face. "Say..."

Sango sighed, but at the same time, she was relieved that it had been brought up in casual conversation. Trying to bring it up out of context would have seemed staged. "Before you mention it, Nakano, I _have_ thought about it..." Deciding to remain true to her fabricated backstory, she went on. "Since I don't have a current job, I'll model for the class."

Miroku's eyes lit up like a pyromaniac at a campfire. "That's great!" It would have been fine if he'd left it at that, but he just _had_ to go on... "I've been looking forward to getting my hands on you since the moment we met!"

A ringing silence fell at the table. Inuyasha and Kagome froze in the middle of bickering about something to stare at the two. Sango's eyebrow twitched and she began to clench and unclench her right hand at her side.

Being very perceptive, Inuyasha picked up on the danger signs. "Oi, Miroku... you might want to-"

****

SMACK!

"...duck. Nevermind." He winced at Miroku, who was sprawled over the end of the bench, his torso on the ground and his legs still up beside Sango.

"Hentai," Sango seethed. "And what do you mean, 'getting your hands on me'? The teacher will just be telling me what positions to get into and I do them, right?"

Recovering, Miroku pulled himself back into his seat, one hand on his sore, red cheek and the other on his back. "That one hurt," he groaned.

"And you deserved it. Lech."

Sighing, Miroku conceded. "Suppose so. And the answer to your question is 'no'. Figure drawing is so complex that you'll need to be placed in the position. You probably couldn't do most of them on your own." Miroku smiled slightly. "I could name a few of them now..."

Sango groaned and aimed another slap his way, but luckily, he saw that one coming and leaned backward, out of range, at the last possible moment. He grinned triumphantly. "Losing your touch?"

Sango rolled her eyes. "You are so exasperating..."

"I know. One of my many virtues. Now... It just so happens that our next class is tomorrow. Can you be there?"

"Sure. I have nothing planned... But I wanted to ask, is it possible that I'd be able to... uh..."

Miroku instantly picked up on what was causing the normally wrathful and cynical Sango to blush. "You want to know if you can wear clothes."

Sango nodded. "I know that you're doing figure drawing, so you can't deal with bulky clothes... but what about a leotard?"

Miroku sighed softly, giving her a doleful look. "Just when my dreams are just within my reach..." He stretched backward, stalling the moment of his answer as long as possible. "Since I respect you so much, Sango, I surrender."

He dug in the pocket of his jacket briefly and drew out a pen. He then handed it to Sango, along with one of the napkins from the holder. "Since the university funds the program quite well, they'll get what you need. I'll need your sizes and phone number to place the order."

Sango wrote down the needed information, then passed the items back to him. As he accepted them, something seemed to dawn on her. "Miroku... why did you need my phone number?"

With a cherubic smile, he tore the napkin in two; her sizes on one half and her number on the other. "That... was for me. The measurements are for Hiryuu." He trailed off as he eyed that particular half and gave a low whistle. "Nice."

Exasperated, Sango said nothing, wishing that she was still hungry so that she'd have something to do with her hands. Just as she was about to strike up a new thread of conversation, her phone rang. She put her hand in her pocket and drew it out, glancing at the ID. Naraku. Crap.

She made a motion as if to leave the booth - but Miroku was blocking her way. "Let me out."

"What can't you discuss in front of little ol' me?"

This left Sango with three choices: squeeze by Miroku and provide a prime grope opportunity, make up a convincing story on the spot without sounding suspicious, or sit down and try to be as inconspicuous as possible. The first was out of the question, and she doubted that she could come up with something that would make him move.

Making up her mind, she plopped down into her seat and flipped the phone open. "What?"

"Nothing but curtness from you, 'Jiya. I admire your pathos."

"Cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"My report."

Sango swore. She had forgotten that she was supposed to tell Naraku of any developments in the case. "Listen, I can't talk now."

She was unaware that her curt responses were drawing the attention of a certain bartender. Inuyasha eyed her curiously.

"Why the delay?"

"Not... _now_. I'll call you back later." Sango was speaking quickly, trying to wrap up the conversation before Naraku could say something that would make her betray his identity.

It was almost as if Naraku knew that Sango was in a position that could be easily compromised by a mistake on her part. "I'm not one for compromises... but I accept. Eleven o'clock. And Sango... I hope you're enjoying yourself with him. You need the social experience."

He'd struck a nerve. Seething, Sango spat, "My social life is perfectly fine, thank you very much! Besides, I'm only doing this because you told me to... Grandma." She tacked on the last word because she became aware that the last sentence was rather shady. Naraku began to laugh, and Sango snapped the phone shut.

At noticing Miroku's questioning look, she said, "My grandma's always worrying that I don't get out enough."

Miroku seemed to accept the answer, but Inuyasha eyed Sango dubiously. Some things just weren't adding up, and he wanted to make sure that Miroku noticed it.

* * *

The Authoress Special!

Kagome: [tugs Inu's braid]

Inu: Oi, wench! What're you doing?

Kagome: Seeing if it's a wig. And- o.O;;; [has yanked off Inu's hair, revealing...]

Houjou: Hiya, Higurashi! Sorry I called you a wench and all that, but I was just wondering if you'd-

Inu: [stalks over, grabs Houjou by the head, and tosses him onto the stage]

Kagome: o.o; That was mean.

Houjou: [stands up rather shakily] Pain... ow... the hurt... [topples again]

Audience: [goes wild]

Audience Dude: [snapping] He's like... Shakespeare!

Kagome and Inu: [exasperated sigh]

===

Sango: My social life is perfectly fine, thank you very much! Besides, I'm only doing this because you told me to... Grandma.

Naraku: ... ?

(Sounds of a scuffle from the other side of the line... then-)

Old Lady: You must be Nara-poo's girlfriend!

Sango: o.O? [mimes vomiting]

Naraku: [yelling] Mother! Get off the phone! It's important business!

O.L.: You work too much. That's why you've got the frowny lines and your hair is all greasy.

Naraku: My hair is NOT greasy! It's... sleek...

O.L.: Well, you need to wash it. Use flat beer, dear. And why don't you have yourself a wife yet? Maybe if you weren't yelling all the time, you'd-

Naraku: DAMNIT, MOTHER! Give me the PHONE!

O.L.:......... [teary] So that's the way you treat me? And how many times have I told you NOT [whack] to curse [whack] in front [whack] of a LADY?! [whack whack]

Naraku: [slurred] What lady?

(Series of screams and thuds ensue.)

Sango: [sloooowly hangs up the phone]

* * *

Review Responses

Queenizzay: ;-; I knuu... [huggles] Gomen, Lon-chan. You know I really don't want to leeeave... . [points and laughs] You're gonna get whipped into wriiiiting and I'm gonna be freee... And writing anyway. Ach. And yes, Kagome's personality fits quite well here... but that certainly won't last. [shifty eyes]

Rin Katt: Kag/Inu? . Uhhh... I REALLY am not sure... But yesh, San/Mir rox sox in a box with a fox! [v-sign] And yes, I will update the SECOND I get out of the car... well... maybe that hour? =D

CatzMeow413: Thank you! Err... you know, you're right. I haven't done an insane disclaimer in a while... It's too late to put one here now, but I'll think about one for the next chapter. As hard as it is to believe, those things have a plot. [wink]

Demon Exterminator Barbie: v.v [kicks ] How darest thou eat her review?! Eeeevil... Oi... I'll be missing my OWN birthday (July 20)... although I don't know how I can miss my own birthday when I'm always with me... Neeevermind. I'm going about an hour or two away from my house, and then of to Texas. [packs many shorts and tank tops] XD And now you want to rearrange the U.S. Riiight. [laughs] Yup. Kagome went off the deep end... =D [suddenly cracks up] Nice reason for him to have a tight butt, that it is! [makes Miroku and Kagome sing "We Have Something In Common"] XD You know, that masochist line reminds me very much of Love Me Not... o.O;; Subliminal messages! Aaagh... [runs off to make Queenizzay and Aamalie update]

Lily Thorne: Heh... I'm glad you like it! Moving sucks... I'm glad I haven't done it in about ten years... Sesshoumaru, you ask? [huge "You just KNOW I'm hiding something grin] Yup! Although where he's going to show up stays a secret... although it'll probably be in chapter 9 or 10. Must... write... before... I leave...

AnimeAngel3326: Hee... glad you like. I hope this update was soon enough for you. o.O;; American Cheese? Do I WANT to ask?

Vamps: Welcome back! [grabs and clings] I'm glad you like! Now don't go creeping off into the shadows on me again, okay?

anhimals: x.x Ack. I always misspell your name at least once... XD And yup, the curiosity is to be expected, although I have no clue when it's all going to be brought out into the open. At any rate, glad you liked!

Kyoko Kasshu Minamino: If you REVIEW... you get RESPONSE, baka. [thumps you] And thou knowest that thou art important... you feed my manga fixation! [pupps do eyes] XD I knuuu... I'm a funny person... [preens] Oi... [hands you a bottle of Hentai-Repellent] Spray his hands... it has a funny little effect, sort of like matching poles of a magnet... Muaha.

Vilja: XD I know... Kagome was bizarre just then... =D I'm glad you liked!

Matsemunei: v.v Yeeah... they JUST gave me three reports that I have to do before camp and it suuuucks... XD I actually got lost with three of my friends on the Las Vegas strip... We didn't find the van until midnight, and then we were late for our trip to the Grand Canyon... though at least we weren't the only ones lost. Sesshie will appear either in chapter 9 or 10. The Beta Specials are written by my beta, Aamalie! =) [luvs her] Later-ness!

AnimeAnna22: =D I am very glad that you like it! And yes, the Conversation will be on your mind foreeever... [spins hypnotist wheel] Muaha! XD Maaaan... nope, I've never been paintballing, but I do WANT to go, beside the fact that people keep telling me that it hurts. I like laser tag, though, even though one time these little kids cornered me on the top floor and kept frickin' shooting me until I ran... and don't laugh! They were 3vil little children, and there were HUNDREDS! Okay... eight... ;-;

LiL psYch0: XD [sighs wistfully] I wish I'd been born in Japan... ;-; Moooving on... yup, I love that Miroku line... Ish one of my favorites. I hope this update was soon enough (though it probably wasn't).

shigromia: XD An angry but courteous mob, huh? Ah, well... I'm glad to hear that I'm considered a frequent updater! [sings] I'm too sexy for hiatus... XD And yup... I do love that line muchness. I actually read through the chapter and thought, 'When did I write that? Ish cool!'. [backs away from your insanity] =D

Blackcat8610: XD You have problems... [snatches the lesson] No hurting-ness... I don't think he could take it! As for the conversation... I guess you'll just have to wait, huh? [stares... Steve Irwin voice] We're goin' to the outback with Miroku n' the gang, so sit tight and don't... move... XD I'm glad you liked!

Soli-chan: =D Okay, okay, I won't try to keep you from finding loopholes... And I guess you get points... [gives] But, like Whose Line is it Anyway, they don't matter... XD Aww... rubber mallet hurt Kip-chan? [grabs you and bursts into tears] Sowwwwwyy! [puts a 50-lb bag of ice on your head] All better! [kicks AOL] Yah. Suuucks... and I'm not hiding the holes... they're there for all to see... . Miroku, why are you looking at me like that? oO;;;; [smacks] (Seriously. I read that over and was like OO;;)


	8. It Begins

Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: This is the last chapter before I leave, and I must say, I'm surprised that I actually got it out. Because I finished it so recently (and I'm leaving today), I had very little time for anything except packing and running in circles, panicking. Because of this, I had to forego doing review responses this time. [bows] Gomen. Each one of you, as always, is much appreciated! Also, since the chapter was finished so late, Aamalie-chan had no time to do a Beta Special, and I, as I've said already, have no free time at all. I still have to do quite a bit before I'm ready to leave... So: enjoy the chapter, and I'll be back in town on the 1st! [waves]

Chapter 8: It Begins...

It wasn't long before the majority of the food was gone and the rest was too cold for human consumption. Sango glanced at her watch: 10:38. Ruing her late day at the office, she turned to Miroku. "We'd better go. Thanks for providing a moving target."

Miroku slid out of the booth, allowing her to exit, and Inuyasha did the same for Kagome. "It was a pleasure being your prey, Sango." He grinned, and Sango realized that she'd walked right into that one. Scoffing, she crossed her arms.

Kagome, meanwhile, was chatting with Inuyasha. No; she was chatting _at_ him. He was pointedly staring anywhere but at her. Noticing his predicament, Sango decided to rescue him. "Let me snag Kagome. 'Bye, Nakano." Before she could turn, however, Miroku had stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek.

"Goodbye, Sango."

Sango forced herself to steadily meet his eye. "Is that going to become a habit?"

"If you would prefer that I kiss other places..."

"Never mind. Since the university address is on the card, I guess I'll drive... I'll see you there."

"Absolutely not. You could get lost in that congestion. I'll pick you up at 10:00."

Inuyasha was eyeing a fork on an adjacent table with a look of yearning. Deciding that any further delay might get her friend injured, she nodded quickly. "Okay. Later." She snagged Kagome's arm and dragged her away from Inuyasha. "We- are- leaving."

Kagome sighed. "'Bye!" She called to the males. Sango nodded to Inuyasha, who was looking quite grateful, and the girls made for the cash register beside the door. As Kagome paid for their evening out (which was surprisingly inexpensive), Sango stepped out into the cool night air.

A breeze ruffled her hair slightly. Even though it was rather soothing, she scowled out of reflex. She began to slowly walk back toward Kagome's car, giving the other woman plenty of time to catch up. As she walked, she went over the events of their little outing.

If Naraku's desire was for her to get Miroku's trust, she supposed that she was going about it the right way. Miroku had been cheerful the entire time, despite his numerous lecherous remarks and actions. He also didn't seem to suspect anything; he saw her as just another girl, which was her motive exactly.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, looked as if he suspected that some of Sango's declarations were false. _But,_ Sango mused, _What are the chances that Inuyasha knows something about the allegations against Miroku? I'll run a background check on him..._ Sango decided firmly; even though she didn't know his surname, she was fairly sure that there weren't many people in the area named 'Inuyasha'.

Speaking of him, what had the two been talking about in that secluded area? It bore some suspicion with it; after all, she couldn't have a conversation with Naraku in front of the guys, so it was very possible that Miroku and Inuyasha's conversation contained incriminating information.

Sango rubbed a hand across her forehead. She was still having problems imagining the winning young man as an arsonist... a terrorist. _Still_, she reasoned, _if he _acted_ like a terrorist, it would pretty much defeat his chances of getting away with it._

After what seemed like an eternity lost in her thoughts, Kagome caught up and looked up at Sango, grinning. "So? Did you have fun?"

Sango offered a weak smile. "Yeah. It was nice. After all..." She linked her hands behind her head and stared up at the sky, "you _did_ pay for it."

"I wasn't just talking about the food, Sango." The two had reached the car by this time. Sango slipped into the passenger's seat while Kagome hopped in, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot, nearly colliding with a green Toyota while merging into traffic. Once they were out of immediate danger, Kagome continued with her previous statement. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself fairly well with Miroku..."

Sango stared resolutely out of the window, refusing to respond.

Kagome, trying to salvage the conversation, smirked slightly. "So, a florist, huh?"

Sango turned her head slowly, and fixed Kagome with a look that said, quite plainly, 'Die'. "Well, what was I supposed to tell him? I'm undercover, so I'm not going to tell him that I'm a fed. It would defeat the purpose."

Kagome frowned. "What do you mean? Miroku doesn't mean anything to your new case."

Thinking quickly, Sango supplied an acceptable answer. "There's no telling who's connected with who. He could be a friend of my target."

Kagome was silent for a second. "I don't know... It seems like Miroku's the kind of person that you can talk to. After all, you need to open up to _someone_..."

She'd hit a nerve. Sango crossed her arms. "No matter how much I tell you, you'll never believe that I don't want to discuss myself with anyone."

"Maybe you don't want to, Sango, but you _need_ to."

The other woman opened her mouth, closed it, and was about to open her mouth again when her phone began to ring. She glanced at it; Naraku, of course. Torn between being upset that it was her boss and grateful for the interruption, she gave Kagome a dirty look and answered.

"Hello, 'Jiya. Are you in a position in which you can speak to me?"

"Kagome's here."

"You have five minutes for her _not_ to be there." He hung up, and Sango yanked the earpiece out and sighed. Somehow, Naraku had known that Kagome didn't know the identity of the target. She didn't even want to know how he'd found out.

In a short while, Kagome was pulling into her driveway. Before the car had completely stopped, Sango was halfway to her own car. She didn't want Kagome to overhear her conversation, and what was more, she didn't want to hear another lecture about Miroku. She didn't quite know why, however.

Maybe it was that twinge, that gut feeling, that told her that Kagome might just be right.

Once she had slid into her own car and waved to Kagome, pulling out into the street, she dialed Naraku. Once he answered, she didn't bother with the small talk. She began to tell him about all of her interactions with the target since the first night that she'd met him at the bar. She left out the snippets of conversation that she had heard in Chateau Chantre, however; that was her own little mystery to solve, and she didn't want Naraku to think that she was being careless. He was silent through all of it, and Sango didn't finish giving him the details until she had reached her own house.

"I commend you, 'Jiya," he said finally, once she had given him all of the information that she had for him. "It would seem that you fit perfectly into the role that had been prepared for you. As always, exceptional work."

Sango remained silent, letting herself in and dropping her keys on the kitchen counter.

"I hope you enjoy yourself while modeling, 'Jiya." Sango could practically _hear_ the condescending smirk in his voice. She could also hear the finality in that statement, and hung up immediately, trudging upstairs to her room.

She set the alarm to wake her at 9:00, so that she could be ready for Miroku to pick her up. That done, she had just enough energy left to change into an oversized t-shirt and slip her small gun under her pillow before climbing into the bed and falling asleep.

* * *

9:45. Sango sat on the couch, her hair still damp from the shower, staring at the door as if daring someone to knock _one minute_ before 10. She was deep in the throes of one of her favorite defense mechanisms: Anger. She was nervous about what she would have to do, so she was using that nervous energy to fuel hatred toward Naraku... Miroku... even Kagome.

Kagome, because of what she had said the previous night. Kagome, because she always said exactly what was on her mind, without thinking of how it would affect others. Kagome, because she had somehow put the idea of Miroku - Nakano - being a person and not just a target into Sango's mind.

Yet another worry was that there'd be no way that she could keep a weapon close while wearing a leotard in front of a class full of civilians. She wasn't afraid that she'd be gunned down, but being armed made her feel like she could handle that big, bad world out there that would like nothing better than to have her in a situation in which she couldn't defend herself.

Besides, she'd arrested enough people that were now back on the streets to be a little worried that they would seek her out.

The doorbell rang. Sango just stared for a while, then grudgingly got to her feet. It seemed like it took an eternity for her to reach out and turn the doorknob.

Miroku stood there, his normal grin on his face and a black bag in his hand. "Good morning!" He held the bag out to Sango. "For you."

Sango accepted the bag. Attempting to avoid Miroku's eyes for as long as possible, she peered inside it. Her head was halfway up to face Miroku again when she snapped her gaze back down again, as if she had seen something startling.

"Anything wrong?" Miroku asked, still grinning.

"...What's this?" Sango managed, slipping her hand into the bag and pulling out something that was definitely _not_ a leotard.

No, what was hanging from her hand was much too little cloth for a leotard. It was... a bikini. A black bikini.

A very skimpy, stringy, black bikini.

"Nakano, what happened to my leotard?"

Miroku's bright grin widened, and Sango was almost sure that it would soon catch the sun, blind her, and get her out of this modeling gig altogether. "I don't remember specifically agreeing to a leotard."

Sango couldn't move for a split second. When she could, however, she took swift vengeance. Once Miroku was firmly lodged in between two of the stout, square bushes that lined her house, she stuffed the bikini back into the bag and glared. "You... are... an _insufferable_... pervert."

Miroku, being face-down, couldn't make much sound.

"Once you've pulled yourself out, come in and wait on the couch. On. The. Couch," she reiterated, before storming upstairs to change, making every step louder than necessary to express her anger.

She'd thought that Miroku had been sensitive the previous night when he'd agreed to let her wear clothing during the modeling session. _Still_, some part of her mind reasoned, _at least he didn't show up claiming to have forgotten..._

After she had put the bikini on under her regular clothes (inside a locked bathroom), Sango made her way back downstairs, where Miroku was sitting obediently on the couch, a few leaves and twigs in his hair.

Snorting with laughter, Sango reached a hand toward his head before she could check her actions. She'd actually pulled out one of the leaves before she came back to herself and snatched her fingers away. "You've got... plant stuff in your hair," she said, a pink flush suffusing her face as she met Miroku's violet eyes.

Standing, he removed his ponytail holder and shook his hair foward, bending at the waist so that it covered his face. Before Sango could protest, he had run his fingers through his black locks and sent the plant bits to the carpet.

As he raked his hair back once more, Sango, trying to hold back the urge to touch his hair - soft, it looked so _soft_ -, cleared her throat and said, "You're going to vacuum my apartment, you know.

"Why Sango, is that an invitation to return to your home?"

Sango tried to think of something to say, but was utterly unable to come up with anything that he wouldn't just twist around. Sighing, she shoved his bag back into his arms. "Let's just get this over with, Nakano."

They climbed into the car, and whether consciously or unconsciously, Sango sat comfortably in the middle of the seat instead of crushing herself against the door. Miroku gave her an open smile before starting for the university.

* * *

The Arts Building was very near the main entrance of Miroku's school, and the congestion that Miroku had mentioned the previous night was quite nonexistent. Because of this, it seemed like someone had fast-forwarded Sango's life until she was sitting in a small lounge off from the classroom, trying not to be alarmed about the fact that her heart was beating somewhere in the vicinity of her throat.

She wasn't self-conscious, far from it, but she felt like she would be showing off far more than she'd ever thought she would. Back when she'd had enough free time to go to the beach, she had worn a one-piece and wore a light dress over it unless she was in the water.

Overly modest? Maybe.

The knob of the door that led to the classroom turned, and it swung open to reveal a cheerful Miroku, flanked by an old man who had to be the professor.

Professor Hijyuu was a tad vertically challenged, and the extra weight that he was carrying just made him seem even shorter. He was mostly bald except for a gray fringe that wrapped around his head at ear level. His eyes were wide and expressive, giving him the look of an insect.

Sango reluctantly stood, glad that, for the moment, she was still fully dressed. _This is it_, she thought to herself. Miroku opened his mouth as if to introduce the two, but Hijyuu closed the distance first.

"You must be Sango," he said, and his voice was odd, somewhat high pitched for such an old man. He reached out and clasped her hand. "Hijyuu Myouga."

"Nice to meet you, Professor Hijyuu," Sango replied, looking pointedly at the hand that he was still clasping.

"Myouga, please," he interjected, still squeezing her hand.

So much for etiquette and subtlety. Sango snatched her hand back and looked over at Miroku. "Class is beginning, I take it?"

He nodded. "Do you need a few minutes to get ready?"

Sango considered the question, and she knew that he wasn't just talking about shedding her outer clothing. He seemed sensitive to the fact that she'd never done something like this before, and was offering her a chance to compose herself. "Yeah."

Miroku led a rather reluctant Myouga from the room, leaving Sango to compose her thoughts and shed a layer of clothing.

It wasn't as if Sango was worried about people seeing her body; she was just a little unsettled about the fact that they'd be preserving her image for posterity. Then, there was the fact that Miroku would be putting her into the positions. If she wasn't mistaken, he'd use the opportunity to do something that didn't quite match the circumstances.

Once free of her shoes, jeans, and t-shirt, she stood in the middle of the room and tried not to cross her arms over her chest out of habit. She began to tap one foot on the floor nervously, trying to tell herself that it would only be for a while, and then, she would probably never see any of those people again. A little reassured, she didn't even blush when Miroku opened the door and beckoned to her, his eyes only sweeping her body once before returning to her face.

Correction: Sango turned beet-red and Miroku's eyes lingered _everywhere_ on their way back to her face.

Somehow, the two of them got through the door that led to the classroom, and Sango had a whole new set of problems to think about.

She could feel the students' eyes on her, almost as if they were already taking note of every curve and line of her body and drawing a mental picture. Sango was suddenly very aware of every inch of skin that she was showing, and suffice it to say, she resented the feeling.

Miroku must have felt her tense beside him, becaue he asked, "Something wrong?"

Sango folded her hands over herself, ego be damned. "Yeah... It feels like there's a million copies of YOU in this room..."

Miroku just laughed and led her to a raised white platform in the middle of the room that was surrounded by a circle that was only broken in front of the door that Sango had come from and the main entrance. Miroku looked into Sango's bright red face and smiled, that same charming smile that he'd used when they'd first met. "Sango, I assure you, there's no one on Earth that's a copy of me." He held out a hand to her, intending to help her step safely onto the platform. "Ready?"

Sango studied his outstretched hand for a moment. Then, she reached out and took it, nodding slightly. "I'm ready."

* * *

Please **review**!


	9. Vogue!

Disclaimer: [deep, despairing sigh]

A/N: Oh... my... gosh. You people have made my day. While I was gone, you guys were so supportive of this story with the reviews... [fans self] Corisu is flattered! [loves all] Hope you like the chapter! It has been much-awaited, ne? I also missed my deadline... luckily, I don't operate on deadlines. XD

Chapter 9: Vogue!

As Sango stood on the circular podium, the linoleum cool and smooth under her bare feet, she gazed around at the faces of the students. They were, by now, giving Sango and Miroku their complete attention.

Trying to take her mind off the fact that she was subject to much ogling, Sango focused on the characteristics of the classroom itself. Her initial glance told her why the floor was done in linoleum; the floor was covered with splotches of paint and someone had even drawn a caricature of Myouga that looked somewhat like a plump, overgrown flea.

The students' easels were arranged in a half-circle around the podium, turned to the side so that the students could easily view their workplace and the model at the same time. There were only about fifteen students, and for this, Sango was grateful. Myouga was sitting on a stool at one edge of the half-circle, grinning and balancing a sketchbook on his lap.

Miroku cleared his throat unnecessarily, and a young man with a tuft of white hair in the middle of his head called out, "Just get on with it already!"

Utterly unconcerned, Miroku merely said, "Patience, Ginta. We have a new model with us, and I want her to be comfortable."

Another man nudged Ginta and whispered, "_I'd_ make her comforta- ack!"

Sango could do nothing more than stare in amazement. Miroku had stepped up to the man, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and lifted him to face level. "Be polite, Hakkaku," Miroku said, his voice still cheerful. "I think that this young woman is very kind to model for those such as yourself."

He dropped Hakkaku back into his seat as Sango muffled a laugh. For a moment, it had sounded as though Miroku was going to accuse the other man of being a pervert... Her urge to laugh dissipated suddenly, however, as she contemplated what he had just done. _'After showing so much of his perversion, _now_ he decides to show respect?' _She tried to catch his eye and give him a mildly suspicious look, but he didn't glance up while he stepped back to his previous position beside the podium.

"Hello, everyone," he began cheerfully, and a few students groaned at his enthusiasm (not including Hakkaku, who was irritably straightening his clothing). "I'd like you all to meet Tenaka Sango. She'll be modeling for us today."

Almost every eye switched to Sango, who shifted uncomfortably. When were they going to be through with the introductions and move on? After all, the faster this fiasco ended, the sooner she could go home.

"Since she's partially clothed, you won't have as long to sketch. Eight minutes." More groans emanated from the students, and Myouga grinned proudly. Obviously, they were both demanding instructors. "If you finish the sketch before time is up, you can add a little color," Miroku finished.

The students reached for their utensils, and Sango noticed that they seemed to be a very diverse group of artists. Ginta and Hakkaku were prepared to sketch with pencil, a girl three easels away from them was holding what looked like an oil pastel, and the man at the very end of the row was equipped with charcoal.

During this scuffle for writing instruments, Miroku gave Sango a constant encouraging smile. She couldn't help returning a watery smile of her own, while some nagging part of her brain demanded to know why she was grinning like an idiot.

There were a few moments of mental lapse before Sango tore her eyes away and fixed her eyes on a fleck of paint in front of her toes. A cough from Myouga drew Miroku's eyes away from wherever they had wandered after she'd looked away.

"Oh! Before I forget! Come Sango, stand here for me..." He indicated a spot near the front of the podium.

Sango glanced up and blinked. "Huh? Oh..." She obliged, stepping forward so that her toes were very near the edge. She was wringing her hands rather nervously, all the while being irritated at herself for the uncharacteristic emotion. After all, he was just a guy.

"Since you seem rather uncomfortable, Sango, we'll start with something simple. Cross your arms."

She glared at him for the 'uncomfortable' remark, but folded her arms across her chest anyway.

"A little farther down." Before Sango could protest, Miroku reached out and pulled her folded arms downward, so that they were just below her breasts. Speaking of which, as he was drawing back, his hand brushed rather purposefully across her bikini top.

Sango's eyes widened and she flushed, but she couldn't just reach out and slap him. For one, it would alert the others in the room that something had occurred. Also, she was supposed to be posing, and she couldn't very well move when she felt like it.

She settled for glaring a cold promise at the innocent-seeming Miroku, who appeared to be preoccupied with examining her poise. "Step your right foot back a bit, if you would. Put your weight on it."

Sango complied, trying to nail the pose so that Miroku wouldn't have to touch her. Apparently, some subconcious part of her brain wanted such contact, because her foot fell slightly short of her goal. It was mere moments before she felt his hands gently grasp her ankle and ease it backward and into position.

This would have been completely acceptable, if it wasn't for the way he let his hand briefly rub her backside as he pulled back.

This time, Sango let out an 'eep!', and twitched slightly.

Miroku eyed her, then beamed happily. "Lovely. Just try and stay as still as possible, and you'll have a chance to stretch a little before the next pose. All right all! Get started!"

Sixteen various sketching instruments were set to paper (Myouga was drawing as well) as Sango tried her hardest to look neutral. It was an inexplicable effort to remain still while it seemed like every muscle in her body harbored the desire to slap Miroku into the nearest wall.

It was the longest eight minutes of Sango's life. At first, she had been slightly put out at the seemingly simple pose; as the seconds wore on, however, she realized how difficult it was to stay completely motionless. Her right leg began to ache slightly four minutes in, for no reason except that it was tired of bearing all of her weight.

About five minutes in, Sango noticed Miroku walking around the perimeter of the half-circle, seemingly giving pointers to the students in a low voice. She followed him with her eyes for as long as she could. '_After all_,' she reasoned with herself, '_he_ is _supposed to be the most dangerous person in the room at the moment_.'

Even though the time that she'd spent in that pose seemed to last forever, it seemed like the aspiring artists had just begun to draw when Miroku called out, "Time!"

Sango let her arms drop and sighed, shifting her weight to a more comfortable balance. Without thinking, she pulled her right leg behind her into a stretch. Only after she'd returned her foot to the ground did she realize that her stretch was more characteristic of someone who was comfortable with the whole modeling deal.

Miroku sidled back up to her, a slender paintbrush tucked behind his right ear for some reason. "You're doing great," he said earnestly. "The others are finding you to be quite a challenge."

Sango just gave a distrustful stare. "A challenge? How so?"

"Your features are unlike any other model that we've had before," he replied. "You're so beautiful that they're afraid to incorrectly portray any of your features."

"Really?" Sango replied derisively, slanting her eyes away from him. "Honestly. You probably say that to all of the models."

"Would I do that?" he asked, and Sango found herself doubting that he would. "Now: Next pose! Sit on your feet, please."

Sango complied, sinking to her knees and settling her butt on her heels. Miroku moved forward, and she allowed him to adjust her balance, eventually ending up with her left arm out to the side and her torso leaning to the left. She now sat beside her feet. Miroku made a few minute adjustments, turning her head slightly to the right and spreading the fingers of her left hand by working his own between them.

A few wisps of hair had fallen from Sango's ponytail and into her face; before Miroku called for the students to begin, she used her right hand to brush the strands back.

"Nine minutes. Start now."

This pose was more comfortable than the other at first. With her head turned to the right, she was taking in a completely different group of people. The man who was sketching with charcoal was in her line of vision, and she realized suddenly that his hair was the same shade as Inuyasha's.

'_Bizzare_,' she thought idly. '_It must be a fad or something... I guess I need to get out more_.'

Nine minutes was up around the time that Sango's arm began to protest. This time, to stretch, she bent the arm as if reaching down her back and pressed down on her elbow with the other hand.

While she stretched, she looked around for Miroku. He seemed to have disappeared while her vision of the room was restricted. She made as if to stand up, but a familiar voice from behind her caused her to pause.

"You may as well stay there, Sango. The final pose is similar to the one that you were just in. After that is done, you're free to go. The second half of class is used to touch up the sketches."

Sango twisted back to look at Miroku and nearly fell off the podium. For some reason, he was shirtless, wearing nothing but his black jeans. The paintbrush was still tucked behind his ear, and he looked very smug about something.

Once she was able to speak coherently, Sango cleared her throat and asked, "So... is this a twisted attempt to seduce me, a response to the nonexistent heat of this room, or all of the above?"

Miroku laughed. "Actually, I'll be doing this pose with you."

Sango's hand twitched, as if looking for something to throw at him. "You didn't mention this before..." she managed.

"Oh, really?" He stepped onto the podium; there was more than enough space for him to stand comfortably. "It must have slipped my mind..."

Rubbing her temples, Sango decided to forego causing a scene in front of the others. "Fine. Whatever. What do I have to do?"

Miroku plopped onto the floor and crossed his legs. "Sit on my lap."

Forget not causing a scene.

"WHAT?!"

"Sango, Sango... It won't be that bad at all. After all, what's the worst that I can do?" At the young woman's piercing glare, he decided to try another tactic. "Do you really want to deprive this class of the opportunity to learn? The third pose always involves two people, you know."

Sango closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and released it in an exasperated sigh. "Fine. But if your hands begin to wander..." she let the threat hang, then resignedly made her way over to him and settled herself in his lap.

So far, she was managing to supress the blush just beneath the surface of her skin. Miroku gave her a few directions, telling her to shift a bit until she was sitting on his right thigh, her legs stretched across his lap.

"Great. Now, lay your head on my shoulder-"

"Nakano, you're pushing it," she snapped automatically, but she did it anyway, aware that the longer she delayed, the longer she'd be stuck there.

Sango had quite effectively landed herself in the last position she had expected to be in that day: cradled against Miroku's chest and blushing like mad. '_Oh, well... at least it's a nice chest. Gah, what am I_ thinking_?!_'

A tugging sensation from the top of her head jerked her out of her thoughts and her upper body was promptly deluged in her newly released hair. Sango scowled slightly, but didn't say a word, inwardly trying to figure out why everyone seemed determined to destroy her ponytails.

"Myouga, keep time for me, would you?" Miroku called. From where she was sitting, Sango had a prime view of Miroku's nicely chiseled body. To keep herself from further embarassing herself, she shut her eyes resolutely.

"How long?" came Myouga's reply from somewhere to the right.

"Twenty-five minutes should be sufficient," Miroku replied thoughtfully.

Sango heard all of this, but she was slightly detatched. '_Hmm... he's warm... Twenty-five minutes, huh? Well, it isn't that_-' Her eyes popped open. "Excuse me? _How_ long?"

"Well, Sango, you must understand that this pose is a lot more complicated than the previous ones. Don't worry; I'll keep you entertained."

"I'll bet," Sango murmured irritably as Myouga called out, "Begin!"

===

This chapter didn't want to be written. It was actually supposed to be longer than this, and stretch to the pose itself, but Milfoy (the muse) skipped out on me. I simply must find him... [begins to apologize] Foregoing RR's and the Special this time, too. I'm not going to give you guys the long list of excuses, but I will sum up in three words: volleyball, school, fatigue.

[falls asleep at desk]


	10. Charcoal

Disclaimer: [holds up blueprint of Takahashi-san's house] Not yet... not... yet...

A/N: [waves hands over head] Ooh! Guess what? This fic's up for Best M/S Romance at Iyfanguild! =D The link's at the top of my bio. If thou lovest, thou will vote! [points frantically in random direction]

A/N 2: Yay for semi-fluff!

Chapter 10: Charcoal

The familiar sound of writing instruments on paper began, and Sango tried to tell herself that she was only doing this for the students' benefit, not for her own...

...and not for Miroku's either. Right? Right.

At first, the thought of the position that she was in was enough to keep Sango quite occupied. As she gradually became comfortable (which took all of ten minutes), she actually began to get bored. Trying to move her mouth as little as possible, she whispered, "You had this planned from the beginning, didn't you?"

Small tremors began to shake Miroku's body, and Sango became slightly alarmed before she realized that he was trying his best not to burst out laughing. "Of course I wasn't planning this," he finally answered, "it just worked out in my favor."

Sango remained silent, looking out of the corner of her eyes at the students that were in her limited view. They all seemed to have different strategies; some drew with their noses nearly pressed to the easel while one young woman was sketching with a pencil in each hand.

"So..." she murmured, "when will you be graduating from this place?"

"This year, actually," he replied. Though it was an innocent enough answer, a shiver ran up Sango's spine. Her mind had conjured up an unprovoked image of Naraku, and the possibility surfaced that Miroku might not live long enough to graduate.

It seemed almost impossible that she was to kill Miroku. After all, here she was, sitting on his lap, wrapped in his arms. She had to admit, Miroku was quickly becoming less of a sick-o who lacked morals and more of a curiously endearing young man. It wasn't as if she had known him long enough to adequately judge his character, but his openness made her feel as if she'd known him for much longer.

For the first time, Sango began to doubt her ability to pull the trigger.

How was it that one man could upset everything that she had lived for the past three years? How was he reaching through the professional shell that she'd made her home? How could she cut his life short?

"Sango? Something wrong?"

Sango didn't reply for a while. She was looking down at the places that their bodies touched. It seemed as if they fit together perfectly, like the final pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle. Up until now, the piece that completed her had been lost...

But at the same time, she couldn't let Miroku's file be ignored. According to Naraku, his terrorist activities had slain about forty people and destroyed millions of dollars' worth of government property. That was inexcusable, even though she found it improbable that her sweet, gentle Miroku could do such a thing. But in case he was...

"I'm fine, Miroku. Really."

His arms tightened slightly around her, as if he knew that she was thinking of something distressing. Giving in to the side of her that was very content at her present location, she relaxed.

'_At least I won't have to consider the mission for a couple of weeks_,' she reasoned to herself. '_That's plenty of time to prepare myself_...'

She looked at the students once more, trying to take her mind off her melancholy thoughts. Something that struck her immediately was that there seemed to be an empty easel. Now, who was missing?

'_Charcoal-man_...' she thought. '_Now why would he have left before the sketch was... over_...?' she trailed off. "Hey, Nakano?"

"Yes?"

"How long have we been here?"

"No clue. Hold on." She felt his head shift as he glanced up at Myouga. Immediately after, there was a surprised sound from the old professor.

"Oh! Time's up!" he yelped, glancing at his watch. "Oh, boy. I hope that doesn't make a huge difference in the sketches..."

Somewhat reluctantly, Sango pushed herself from Miroku's lap and stood. She could still feel his warmth along one side of her body; it was quite comforting. Some part of her was glad that Myouga had accidentally let the time run a little longer.

She heard Miroku stand up behind her and turned to see him stretching his arms over his head. The little paintbrush that he'd tucked behind his ear came loose and clattered to the floor. As he stooped to pick it up, he called out, "Finish up your sketches, everyone! Color's not required, but if you think it'll improve your grade..." He slipped the paintbrush into his back pocket. "Myouga, you'll be here, right?" At the professor's nod, Miroku smiled. "Great. I'll be taking Sango home, then!"

He snagged his blue button-front shirt from a nearby stool and slipped it on. "Sango, you can change now; I'll be back there soon. Thanks again for doing this." He smiled brightly at her and began to button up his shirt, wandering toward the empty easel that had been vacated by charcoal-man.

Sango made her way back to the door that she'd walked through about an hour ago. Her exit was much more graceful and confident than her entry; she knew now that art was the students' focus and besides, she was quite comfortable with her body.

She plopped onto the small bench, beside her clothes, and began to dress. It only took around three minutes, a large quantity of which was spent fooling around with her hair. She had no clue what Miroku had done with her ponytail holder.

Fully clothed, Sango withdrew her phone from one of her shoes, then put those on as well. The sight of her phone reminded her of something that she'd been thinking about since the previous night. Glancing at the door to make sure that no one was about to enter, she pressed one of the small buttons on the side.

The robotic voice intoned, "Say a name or command."

"Kagome cell," Sango said, and the other line immediately began to ring.

It wasn't long before Kagome answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Kagome. At work?"

Kagome sighed. "You know it. You need something?"

Sango stood and began to pace the room thoughtfully. "I want you to run a check on someone. If you can't do it without a bias, I'll just get Shippou to do it. No big deal."

Kagome's confusion was completely audible. "Who would I be biased against? Really, Sango. You know me better than that!"

"Fine. I want you to give me everything that you can about Inuyasha."

"...Huh? But... Inuyasha... the cute guy who worked at Chateau? What could you possibly suspect him for?"

"Don't worry about it. Just do this for me, okay? And don't let whatever you _think_ you feel for him cloud your judgement."

Kagome said nothing for a while, then coolly responded, "As long as you take your own advice."

Sango somehow felt that a tirade about Miroku was coming, and she cut in. "Thanks, Kagome." Before the other woman could reply, Sango snapped her phone shut and sighed.

As if he'd been waiting courteously for Sango to finish her conversation, Miroku burst into the room as soon as she was getting to her feet. "The students have left," he announced. "You did great, Sango. Thanks again."

Sango smiled faintly. Her mind was still in turmoil when it came to Miroku; that was the reason that she'd made that particular request of Kagome. Hopefully, whatever information she'd find would make up her mind for her. "No problem, Nakano."

Miroku plucked his black bag from the chair near the door and slung it over his shoulder. "Do you want to see a few of the sketches before we leave?"

Curiosity effortlessly overwhelmed Sango's desire to go home. "Sure. Are they any good?"

Miroku pushed the door open and made an 'after you' gesture. "Sango, any work of art with you as a subject is beautiful."

On her way out of the room, Sango slapped him playfully on the arm. "You and your lines," she sighed, rolling her eyes slightly.

The room was empty of anyone other than Sango and Miroku, and the huge sketchbooks set on the easels were closed. "This one first," Miroku said, moving toward an easel near the middle of the room. "Don't be surprised if some things come out a little different," he warned. "Art is not perfection, you know." He flipped the sketchpad open and it fell to the first pose that Sango had done.

She could do nothing more than gape for a while. There was minimal color in the picture; there was only a pale peach cast to her skin and a light pink blush at the tops of her cheeks. Her hair and bikini were solidly blacked in. The color wasn't the most alluring thing about the picture, however. "It looks like... a photo..." Sango whispered.

"Not exactly," Miroku said from behind her. "You see, he made the hips a little thin. Maybe he didn't want to offend you. Also, the fingers are rather short. Yours are much longer and more slender."

Sango shot a distrustful look over her shoulder. "Been keeping an eye on me, have you?"

Miroku held up his hands in defense. "I wasn't watching you like a pervert, honest. I was watching you like an artist." He moved forward and flipped the book closed, then moved three easels to the right. "Here's a good example of the second pose. It's Ginta's, if you can believe it." He opened the sketchbook and flipped to the pose.

Sango blinked. "I don't look anything _like_ that!" The face of the Sango in the picture seemingly wore more makeup than Sango had in her entire life. Her eyelids were half-closed and filled with a bluish hue, her lips were filled in with a slutty red, and huge earrings that Sango had never and would never allow in her house hung from her lobes.

Miroku laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, well... Ginta was in his own little fantasy world today. But if you- well, let me..." Miroku moved forward and covered the Sketch-Sango's face.

Immediately, Sango saw what Miroku had been talking about. The ridiculous amount of makeup had drawn her eyes away from the perfect lines of the pose. She could even make out her muscles and a slight shadow where her body parts overlapped. "Wow."

"One more pose to go!" This time, Miroku walked to the very end of the aisle, stopping at charcoal-man's easel. Sango followed at a more leisurely pace, eyeing the closed easels and wondering how the sketches inside them looked. Once she caught up, Miroku opened the book to the third pose.

Speechless wasn't the right word for what Sango felt. It was as if her very thought processes had ground to a halt. It was a full-color depiction of the very puzzle that she'd envisioned Miroku and herself making. The detail was perfect, even down to the one stray bristle that jutted out of the small paintbrush behind Miroku's ear. The most captivating detail, however, was Miroku's eyes. They seemed to glimmer out of the picture, bearing some sort of unfathomable emotion. '_Is that... what he really looked like_?' Sango wondered.

"I know what you mean," Miroku said, even though Sango hadn't said a thing out loud. "He does beautiful work... and he's always the first one out of class. I can't explain it. I might not want to be on the art scene with _him_ on the rampage, after all," he joked lightly. "Come on, let's go." He reached out a hand to close the sketchbook, but not before taking one more look at the drawing. "He's really something, that Sesshoumaru," he stated, flipping the pages back down. "Now, what say we get some lunch?"

* * *

"Run that by me again."

"I suspect that their relationship is growing beyond that of killer and prey. It may be wise to withdraw her from her position before she jeopardizes our organization."

"I will do no such thing. 'Jiya is one of my prime operatives, and I will not dismiss her from this case because of your idle speculation."

"You are a fool."

"And you are tying up my phone line. We will speak on this later. For now, I have phone calls to make."

There was the click of a dead line. Utterly unconcerned, the man slipped his phone into his coat pocket and drew out a pair of sunglasses. As he did so, two small nubs of charcoal fell from his pocket and onto the sidewalk, leaving small dark streaks.

* * *

[evil] _Muahahaha!_ [/evil] The thot plickens!!! I didn't get to as much in this chapter as I thought I would... but no worries. At least I know exactly what's coming now... I think... [huggles Milfoy] He was just out stalking things. [twirls happily] I hope you liked! More soon, and don't forget to vote for meeee...

* * *

****

The Beta Special!

Sango: [melancholy musings of Miroku]

[BOOM! CRASH!]

Easels: [domino effect]

Artists: o.o

Sesshoumaru: [lying on ground, swirly eyed]

Everyone: [stunned blink]

Sesshoumaru: [holds up sign, a la Wily E. Coyote] 'OOC, I know.'

Inuyasha: [sniggers from the shadows as he winds up tripping string]

* * *

Miroku: What do you say we get some lunch?

Sango: ...

Miroku: Uh... Sango?

Sango: [picks up a sketch from the floor. Eye twitch] Nakano... Who drew this?

Miroku: [looks over her shoulder at the sketch!Sango... Which is missing an important element: The bikini.]

Sango: [glares]

Miroku: [forces himself to study the signature] o.o Erm... That's... Myouga's...

Both: ..........................O.O!!! [jump away from the picture]

Sango: That's just...

Miroku: Wrong. I know... If I did it, it'd be one thing... But... HIM?! Ugh. You poor girl. [Hugs Sango comfortingly]

Sango: -.-; Hand. Off. Now. [thwap]

Miroku: Eh heh... About lunch...?

* * *

Review Responses

FlamingRedFox: Ah, it's okay. I understand about vacations and real life. =) I'm very glad you like! Yeesh... you feel bad for Sango? I envy her, myself... thanks for the review!

Xichiathik: =D Thank you! I will!

aska19: I'm glad you think so! And don't worry, I'd never abandon this fic!

Blondie hanyou: Hiya! I'm glad you liked the chapter! I really haven't had the time to read your fic, but then again, I still have a lot of catching up to do from when I was on vacation... and then school's started... Eh. I'll try my best.

Sango-chan-ness: =) I'm glad you like... but a lemon?! [topples to side, then scurries off and hides under couch] I'd embarass the heck out of myself! o.o; Thanks for reviewing, though! [un-hides]

XxSherabarooxX: Even though you reviewed... er.. chapter 5 or such, I figured I'd just reply to you here... I'm glad you're enjoying this fic!

Blackcat8610: Finally, someone who understands the Evil Cliffies! [huggles you] It feels great to be understood! And Milfoy has been found! [throws small party] Thanks for the review!

iLOVEcheese: Interesting username... XD Thanks so much for the encouragement!

Kyoko Kasshu Minamino: [huge grin] Woohoo! I get all caps in the review! [happy] And yes, I was gone for a while, huh? Now ish time for you to get out the next chapter of 'Jessica', eh? [innocent smile]

Virago: =) Aww... Miroku was pretty tame in this chapter, I think! . [begins plotting Pervert!Miroku moments for the next chapter. Thankies for the review!

Azaya: =) Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Wow... Germany... I'm in shock. [grins] I don't know when this story is going to end, but I think I still have at least seven chapters left... Err... Auf Wiedersehen! XD

Raruka: Wow... you're enthusiastic... =D Thank you!

Lily Thorne: Eh, s'okay. Reviewers are never late... that is, unless they skip chapters... [secretly glares around] Hrrrmm... Visitors, huh? I guess I should feel grateful that everyone visits my great-grandma instead of us! [innocent]

Aryll: Thank you! [accepts pep talk] =) Also... sleep is good... I just got back from a church yard sale in which I was standing outside all day selling hot dogs and pickles... Gwaa... [falls asleep at computer]

Aamalie: XD Yesh. This site (doesn't want QE to eat the name... --) is quite insane about things like that... =) Gwaa... it's not even school any more! It's my grandma! She's absolutely insane! [considers dart gun option] Well, that won't work... my grandad'll get suspicious... [wanders off, pondering other options and Lonnie's Infamous Choice C (XD)]

AnimeAnna22: =D I'm glad you think so! XD You're not the only one who simply loves the compromising position... [considers drawing it... then remembers that she doesn't have a scanner... ;-;] Yish, Vogue is a magazine. It's also a Madonna song, in which she sings, "C'mon, Vogue!" and poses... hence the connection... [watches reference go flying over some people's head] v.v Guess I should stick with the last five years, huh? XD And yes, them getting recruited for a magazine would rawk. =D

B4By K4K4Sh1: XD I'm glad you found it amusing... Thank you for reviewing!

Sango's Counterpart: [apologizes profusely] I know, I know, the chapter was rather short... and this one isn't much better... . The next one should be a little longer, though; I have lots of plot to handle in that one... I hope the update was soon enough for you, and thanks for the review!

Soli-chan: [glomps] I miiiiiiisss...... ;-; That said... [running glomps] Thank you! [squeals and hops in circles] You flatter me. Really, you do. Heh. Yes, Sango was quite the lucky one, huh? And yes, she'll have quite a few momentos, ne? Hee! Giddiness good! I hope this chappie lived up to expectations... It was more emotionalistic (yes, that is a word in MY world) than funny... I hope this counted as 'soon'... [doubtful] Ja!

Matsemunei: [kicks you] How dare you mock me about being back at school! And how DARE you point and laugh?!? [throws purple paint on you, then points and laughs] Muahaha! [end randomness] Yesh, the guy was Sesshou, as you have seen above! You know, you were the only person to actually mention it in a review... [gives you candy] I think it went right over some people's heads, no da? And yes, this fic should be pretty long... I still have a lot of ground to cover... Later-ness, and thanks for the review!

Queenizzay: XD [viciously glomps] You caught the Madonna reference! [loves] I reeeeally need to get on AIM soon... but I'm a jerk and so are my grandparents... XD And Miroku was innocent in this chapter! I don't know what that says for future chapters, though... [ponders] Ja!

Demon Exterminator Barbie: =D Yes, Sango is quite the lucky one, ne? XD Left you quite speechless, huh? Thanks for reviewing... [tosses you a cool cloth and a fan] =)

Rikou Suiyou: Bwaa... yes, Miroku can be subtle when he wants... [watches the glomp] Heh. People keep doing that... including me... =) I'm glad you like the way I wrote it... I was rather apprehensive, myself... [glomps you] Thanks!

jade eyed neko: I'm glad you understand! I'm trying to keep it regular so that I don't get attacked by hordes of people... . I'm also grateful that you don't hate the short chapters... =D [waves Sango/Miroku banner around] Whoo! I hope this chapter was soon enough!

Kibethan: =) You're not the only one that loves Miro-kun! [counts out about 10 in three seconds] XD I'm really glad that you liked what I did with that last chapter!

* * *

Let me know what you think and **review!**


	11. Deadline

Disclaimer: Hers. -points to Takahashi Rumiko, who is laughing maniacally while lightning strikes in the background-

A/N: This is the chapter that I've been dreading writing from the start... I would have procrastinated forever if it wasn't for Aamalie-chan... -si-igh- Oh, and the restaurant in this chapter is modeled after the Akabeko from Rurouni Kenshin (don't own, blargh). Enjoy the chapter!

A/N 2: QE has begun to eat BRACKETS! Is nothing sacred?! -sob, sob-

Chapter 11: Deadline

Naraku's fists clenched at his sides as he rose from his chair, almost knocking over his telephone with the abrupt movement. He stepped to his large, narrow window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and peered out at the ground below.

One thing that he appreciated about having an office on the highest floor was that very few people gained the privilege to share his hall. This provided quite a bit of privacy for him, something that he needed quite a bit of.

"'Jiya, what have you done to yourself?" he murmured to no one. According to Sesshoumaru, Naraku's coveted Taijiya had committed the ultimate taboo - she'd become closer than necessary to a target. What could have warped her priorities in such a way? What could have made her endanger her job in such a manner?

"Whatever your... relationship may be, 'Jiya, Nakano Miroku _will_ die." Naraku strode back to his desk and lifted the phone from its cradle.

* * *

Sango peered suspiciously over her teacup, waiting for the undoubtedly perverted comment that she had been anticipating for the last fifteen minutes.

It never came.

Despite her misgivings about accompanying Miroku _anywhere_, she'd agreed to a traditional luncheon at the _Kirouto_, a fine restaurant situated a few blocks from the university.

The female staff members were all dressed in kimonos; the obi that were tied at their backs looked as if they had taken days to get just right. The male staff made do with yukata and hakama, giving the _Kirouto_ an alluring rustic sense. Even a few of the customers were dressed this way, momentarily making Sango feel a bit out of place with her modern clothing.

Upon entering, they were directed to an almost completely closed-off room; it had three walls, and the open section gave them a view of other groups in similar compartments. They had taken seats on two cushions that were situated on the floor; beside each cushion was a small table that held chopsticks, a bowl, a neatly folded cloth napkin, and a china teacup and saucer. On the floor between the two cushions, there was a metal-lined hole that was about a foot in diameter.

Now, the silence was becoming unbearable. Miroku's eyes were closed peacefully as he sipped indulgently at his green tea. Though she didn't want to, Sango couldn't help but notice the minute details - the way his hands curved around the cup, one supporting its base and the other covering the side that was facing Sango, allowing him to tilt it to his mouth with minimal effort.

With a growl, Sango slammed her cup down on the small table to her right, fisted her hands in her lap, and glared across the small compartment at Miroku.

His eyes popped open. He blinked for a while at Sango, then calmly lowered his own cup. "Something bothering you, Sango?"

"Darn right, something's bothering me," she bit out. "You make it a point to be as insufferable as you can since the day I met you, then all of a sudden you're the perfect gentleman? What are you playing at?"

"Has it never crossed your mind," Miroku began, the ghost of a smile on his face, "that I see you as a beautiful woman with an alluring and fresh personality? Is it so wrong to want you to enjoy yourself?"

Sango opened her mouth as if to offer a rebuttal, then shut it again. She finally forced out an "O-oh," her cheeks already taking on the pink tinge that might as well have been her natural color, judging by how often she was blushing lately.

They sat in oddly companionable silence until a waitress in a sky-blue silk kimono stopped at their compartment, a steaming cast-iron pot in one hand and what looked like a large metal cup with a hinged lid in the other. Bowing to them, she flipped up the lid of the 'cup' and emptied the contents - hot coals - into the lined hole between Miroku and Sango. She then placed the pot carefully atop the coals and bowed herself out.

Sango passed Miroku her bowl and he filled it with the ladle that had come inside the pot. The beef stew was hearty, but not too heavy for lunch. She set about the task of drinking off the broth before using her chopstick for the vegetables and meat. Miroku followed suit, and the comfortable silence lasted until the end of the meal.

Miroku set down his bowl with a contented sigh. "This place is the best. Every time I have a class, I come here for lunch. Dinner too, sometimes."

The young woman just smiled slightly, thoughts whirling through her head in droves. 'The more time that I spend with him, the more I become sure that he just can't be guilty. Besides, I see him almost continually, so he couldn't have been up to any mischief. Add that to the fact that there have been no attacks on the justice system for a while now...'

"Miroku," she blurted suddenly. "what do you plan to do with your life?"

The man looked slightly confused by the turn of the conversation, but he replied, "I hope to finally be able to quit working at the Buddha and open my own private art school. Maybe a little later, I'll try for an art museum exhibit. Either way, I'll be raking in cash for a job that I love to do." He grinned. "What about you, Sango? And by the way, that makes the third time that you've called me by my first name today."

Far from being shocked, Sango just waved her hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. Rub it in if you want to. So what if you're a little less of a pervy jerk today?" Her smile widened, and it seemed as if it was reflecting the sudden brightness of her mood. After all, she still had over two weeks to prove Miroku's innocence, and with Kagome and Shippou's help, she'd be able to do it. "I want to get married," she said firmly. "Since m-"

She paused, for Miroku had just reached over the empty pot and grasped one of her hands in both of his. "Oh, Sango, I'm so happy! I never thought you'd agree so soon!"

He probably had more to say, but Sango seized the pot and jerked it upward, thudding it against the side of his head and sending him to the ground, twitching slightly.

"I guess I was mistaken to think that you could be serious about anything, Nakano," she sighed, setting the pot back into the pit, where the coals had crumbled into ash that would be emptied out before the next customers entered that compartment. She pointedly ignored his answer, which sounded something like 'I _was_ serious'.

A few seconds after Miroku became intimately acquainted with the floor, a voice came into their compartment. "Miroku."

Sango looked up at the newcomer, taking in his very dark sunglasses, his very dark clothing, and his very white hair. It was none other than-

"Inuyasha," Miroku greeted, sitting up and rubbing the sore spot on his head. "What brings you out into the daylight?"

"Feh. It's not time for your funny business, Miroku. There's something that you'd better see." With no further words, Inuyasha walked on, past their compartment and out of sight.

Miroku looked apologetically at Sango. "I'd better go see what he wants. It'll only be a minute." He rose from his cushion and left her sitting there, slightly puzzled.

Sango still knew absolutely nothing about Inuyasha; Kagome hadn't called her back with any information. What better way to dig up facts than to listen to what people say when they think no one's listening?

The men had withdrawn to a corner that obstructed her view. Sango slowly stood, then crossed in front of a few compartments until she could make out their words. Bemusedly considering the fact that this was the second time that she'd listened in on a conversation between Miroku and Inuyasha, she waited to hear what all the fuss was about.

* * *

"Miroku, what are you doing here with _her_?"

Miroku blinked, slightly taken aback. "Since when do you care who I keep company with?"

"Since you start hanging out with cops!" Inuyasha hissed indignantly, his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets.

Miroku let out a short laugh. "You're mistaken, Inuyasha. Normally, I pride you on your pseudo-detective skills, but I'm not going to believe that Sango's federally employed. You'd have to have proof."

"I do." was Inuyasha's answer. He glanced around at everyone that was in a position to see him, then closed his fingers around something in his pocket. "I did a little digging," he confided, "and I found this in your precious Sango's home." He drew his hand out of his pocket just enough to let Miroku see the butt of a small gun.

Miroku stared for a moment, then rubbed his palm across his face. "Inuyasha, some women feel as if they have to protect themselves. It's not odd to find a woman who keeps a piece in her house."

"Yeah, but under her pillow? Under her mattress, maybe, but having it so readily accessible seems like overkill for the normal woman."

"What exactly are you trying to say, Inuyasha?"

"I'm saying that I think this girl was sent by Naraku. That's why she's been trying to worm herself into your life!"

"I _invited_ her into my life," Miroku argued. "I've gotten to know Sango, and-"

"I don't give a _damn_ what you think you know!" Inuyasha burst out, earning him a few dirty looks from those closest enough to hear his shout. Lowering his voice, he continued, "If you think for one second that I'm going to let you get us all caught and killed, you've got another thing coming."

"Luckily, I don't need your permission to do anything," Miroku quipped. "If you'll excuse me, I'm leaving. With Sango." He turned to walk away, Inuyasha's accusations churning in his head. 'There's no way,' he decided firmly. 'I trust Sango. I trust her with my life.'

* * *

When she heard the conversation begin to draw to a close, Sango hurried back to their compartment and sat back down upon the cushion. Her muscles were taut with adrenaline as she warred with the desire to get the heck out of there. Inuyasha had broken into her house, he suspected her profession, but Miroku... Miroku still believed in her.

Like she believed in him.

She had no idea how long she had been waiting when Miroku stopped by and stuck his head into the room. "How about we get out of here, Sango? You're probably ready to get home."

Sango just nodded slowly, began to stand - and paused when she felt her phone begin to vibrate against her side. "You go ahead," she said finally. "I have to stop by the bathroom first."

He nodded and drew away.

Sango waited a few seconds before leaving, slamming into the bathroom and sighing in relief when she found that it was unoccupied. She flipped her phone open. "Hello?"

"There has been another fatal arson. Your license has been accepted. Since you foolishly left unarmed this morning, an agent is outside with a full holster. I want the target dead within the hour."

Before her brain could even fully process the impact of those words, the buzz of a dial tone met her ear. She numbly shut the phone off and clipped it to her side once more.

"Just like that?" she whispered to no one. 'I... I'm not ready for this yet... I still had time...' And yet, she couldn't ignore what Naraku had said. There had been another fire, more damage, more deaths... and that was something that she just couldn't ignore.

The bathroom door swung open, and Sango pretended to be preoccupied with fixing her makeup, which was nonexistent save for her pink eyeshadow. She kept up her ruse until a female voice whispered, "Good luck, Taijiya," and set a belt and holster on the counter beside her. The bathroom door swung again, and Sango was alone.

After only a moment's hesitation, she reached for the belt, glad that she'd worn a jacket that was made to cover holsters. After all, it wouldn't do for him to suspect anything.

Her hands shook.

* * *

"Sango! Saaangooo!!" Kagome rang the doorbell for the fourth time, tapping her foot impatiently. She had a file tucked under her left arm that she'd slipped out of the office just for Sango to see, and now, she wasn't even answering her door? The nerve!

A whole file on Inuyasha, the gang leader. Mm... bad boy.

"San-" Kagome halted, having tapped the door with her knuckles and noticed that it gave way slightly. Pressing her fingertips against it, she pushed - and it swung right open.

'That's not normal...' Kagome mused, stepping inside. 'Sango never leaves her door open...' "Sango?"

Upon stepping out of the entryway, Kagome gasped. The living room was in a shambles; the couch was overturned, the drawers of her desk ripped open, and several other things were scattered over the floor.

Her training kicked in then, and she realized that whoever had done this could still be present. She ran from the house, pulled out her phone, and dialled Sango's cell.

It was turned off.

Her second call was to the police.

* * *

Sango's hand rested against the invisible bulge that was the revolver, concealed under her jacket. Miroku's eyes were on the road as he hummed cheerfully along with a song on the radio.

Sango's heart was beating in her ears as she mentally ran through the standard operating procedure for disposing of a target. It could be done, but only if she was careful and discreet. First, she needed a location. Since it was daylight, preferably a deserted street or alleyway.

A sign loomed up on their left: **Tokukawa District - 1 mi.**

'Tokukawa... a nearly deserted little town...' Aloud, she said, "Nakano, head for Tokukawa. I know of a shortcut." Her voice was remarkably even, not portraying her slight trembling at all.

"Whatever you say, Sango," he said lightly, and minutes later, they were cruising along an empty street. The windows and doors of every building that they saw were boarded up, scrawled with grafitti, or both.

"Nakano, can you-" Sango's voice failed for a moment, and she cleared her throat, using the mental image of burning buildings to jump-start her vocal chords. "Can you pull over? Please?"

Miroku shot her a worried glance before complying, drawing the car up beside a patch of cracked and weathered sidewalk. "Sango, what's-"

He paused as he felt something cool press firmly against his temple.

A split-second later, he realized that it was a gun.

A second later, he realized that Inuyasha had been right.

* * *

-dance of the Evil Cliffies of DOOM!!- Muaha! Who's evil? I'm evil! Whooo! -watches everyone go careening off edge of cliffie-

Now that I'm hated... -hides- ..._review_!


	12. Sango's Tears

Disclaimer: Pssht.

A/N: Ok. Sorry. But life is _hectic_ right now. I don't have a Saturday to myself until next month, for crying out loud... -sulks for a while- Anyway, enjoy ze chapter!

A/N 2: CHASMS now has a message board! Get sneak peaks at the CHASMS authoresses' work (Aamalie is currently being... persuaded...) and chat about anime or random things. Join! Grr. It's found here (without the spaces, of course): ww w.s8 .invis ionfr ee.c om/ CHA SMS

Chapter 12: Sango's Tears

The silence was total, filling the car like a choking ether until Sango thought that she'd either suffocate or run from the car screaming. She ended up doing neither, instead focusing on holding the gun steady and trying to prevent her professionally inappropriate emotions from keeping her from the task at hand. The gun felt slick in her hand; whether because it wasn't her normal weapon or because she her palms were sweating slightly, she didn't know.

It was Miroku who finally broke the silence, his voice flat and without inflection. "You're with Naraku, I assume."

Sango opened her mouth, found that she was unable to produce anything worthwhile, and closed it once more. Not taking her eyes off of Miroku, she nodded briskly.

Much to Sango's surprise, he let out a derisive laugh, then slanted his eyes so that he could look at her. It was what she saw there that evoked the burning sensation behind her eyes, so strong that she had to look away. Set in his features was a look of _acceptance_. He knew that, in order to escape, he would have to injure, perhaps kill Sango, and that was something that he lacked the ability to do. "Miroku-" she murmured, cutting herself off before she shed her last bit of resolve. This had to be done. 'But...' The thought came unbidden. 'I'd rather see hatred in his eyes than this look. I _want_ him to fight...'

Miroku continued as if Sango had never said a word. "Well, I knew that he would send someone after me eventually. I never suspected you, though. I suppose Inuyasha was right then." He tried another laugh, but what came out was more of a sigh.

Tears came now, but Sango's features were still set. She was determined not to show weakness, not to show Miroku that killing him wasn't really all that high up on her list of priorities. Speaking, however, was a different matter. She couldn't keep the evidence of her borderline devastation out of her voice. "M...Miroku... You know I don't want to... to do this, but t... terrorism... I can't..."

A look of genuine surprise crossed Miroku's face. "Terrorism? Is that what he's accusing me of? I thought he'd be a little more realistic about making stuff up if he wanted me dead."

And there it was. The defiant tone in his voice. That unmistakable twinkle in the eye that characterized Miroku - not Nakano, not a terrorist, not 'the target', but _Miroku_. That firm set of his jaw that told her that, no matter what, it he were to go down, he'd go down swinging.

Just that image of him was enough to initiate the collapse of her intentions. Her hand began to tremble and she pressed it more firmly against his temple to help steady it. "Miroku! Don't toy with me! Don't bluff! This is hard enough as it is!"

"Sango, if I wanted to bluff, I would tell you that you are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen, that I would give anything to see you happy, and that there's an explanation for all of this. Really. I don't like lying, especially not to you - and I'm not lying now." Moving very slowly, he lifted the hand closest to Sango and settled it gently on her cheek. "Would you allow me to tell you the whole story before you make up your mind?"

Sango found that she had absolutely nothing to say for a long while. The trembling in her hand had gotten worse; now, it was a product of nerves _and_ the strain of holding it up for so long without taking some sort of decisive action. Finally, she relaxed the muscles in her arm, allowing the arm that held the gun to lower. She clicked on the safety, placed it in the cup holder, and then checked her watch. "You have a little over half an hour before I have to call Naraku." She looked up and met his dimly hopeful violet eyes. In an almost unconscious motion, she lifted her hand and placed it over his own, still resting on her cheek. "Miroku... Get talking."

* * *

"It's a long story, Sango, and I'm not just saying that. It dates back to when my grandfather was alive. He was an honest man, nothing really remarkable about him. He was seventy-two and he was spry for his age; he took regular jogs early in the morning. On one of those jogs, he witnessed an argument in an alley. The street was deserted, so he trotted over, hoping to be of help." Miroku paused, staring out of the passenger side window. Sango said nothing, wondering what on earth Miroku's grandfather could possibly have to do with the present situation. Then again, she'd promised to let him explain himself...

He took a deep breath and went on. "It happened quickly: A gunshot rang out and a man ran from the alley and took off down the road. My grandfather got a good look at him, though, and was easily able to identify him as the murderer from a suspect line-up. The killer's name was Waru Onigumo."

Sango blinked. "A relative of Naraku?"

"His father," Miroku agreed. "Gramps refused to fade into the shadows and not testify since he was the only witness. Therefore, Onigumo got the death penalty and Naraku was left fatherless.

"Naraku was only about six then, but he was a little tyrant. Felonious behavior runs in the family, it would seem. I happen to think that he began to plan revenge since the day that his father was imprisoned. Nothing happened, however, until Naraku turned eighteen and grew into his present position as head of his branch of the FBI. One day that same year, my father and my grandfather went out to the store. I was supposed to be with them, but I wasn't feeling well that day. They never came back; they were run off the road by an insane driver and killed. It was my mother who told me about Naraku and advised me to go into hiding. She died soon after. I was only fourteen."

Sango was silent, doing her best not to look up at Miroku and try to gauge his truthfulness by his face. Finally, she said, "Where did you hide?"

He smiled. "That's information for a little later - if I'm not dead, that is." Sango cringed. "Now, if my suspicions are correct, Naraku doesn't want to get too closely involved with me, so he's making me out to be a terrorist so that he has an excuse to have me killed. He's framing me, Sango, and he's manipulating you." Now the he had finished relating his story, he sighed. "Well? I know that it's a lot to take in, but it's up to you whether you believe me or not. If you don't... I'll understand."

Emotions buzzed inside Sango's head like angry flies. It took a few moments of contemplation for her to realize the best course of action for her to take.

She reached for the gun in the cup holder.

* * *

Naraku was once more poised before his window, staring out but not seeing anything. Because of the light outside, a dim reflection was projecting back at him, allowing him to see a smirk spread across his face. Everything was in position. The last loose end was so very close to being tied up; after Nakano was dead, there would be no remnants of his vengeance. Everything would be as it should.

As he stood, he heard his door creak open, then shut. Naraku didn't react for a moment, then acknowledged the visitor by name. "Yes, Sesshoumaru?" Naraku knew that it couldn't have been anyone else; no other employees had the nerve to enter his office unannounced and unauthorized. Sesshoumaru seemed to have a problem with respecting authority. Probably because he considered _himself_ to be the highest authority.

"Naraku, you are a fool."

"I believe we've covered that particular point in a previous conversation." Naraku finally turned from the window and took a seat at his desk. "Is there a specific occurrence that brought this declaration on?"

"As I recall, I didn't advise you to tell the Taijiya to kill Nakano. I suggested pulling her from the case altogether."

Naraku regarded his _subordinate_ coldly. "Since when do _you_ advise _me_?"

Sesshoumaru crossed the few steps to Naraku's desk and returned the chilled stare. "Ever since you began to let your personal vendettas cloud your judgment."

Naraku's eyes flickered, but that was all of the clue that Sesshoumaru needed. "I knew it. There is a reason that you want Nakano dead besides the information that you gave the Taijiya. What is it, Naraku? Did he catch you with your pants down?"

Naraku stood in a fluid movement, drawing himself up to his full height. He seemed to bristle with anger. "Get out of my damn office."

Sesshoumaru slid his hands into his pockets. "With pleasure." With a mocking inclination of his head, he stepped out and nudged the door closed with a shoulder. He paused in the hallway for a moment, looking back at the closed door, then advanced to the elevator.

'Naraku is hiding something,' he thought. 'Luckily, I know just how to find out what.'

* * *

Cramming her gun safely into her holster, Sango reached across the low partition between the seats and hugged Miroku tightly, burying her face into his shoulder. "Oh Miroku, I'm so sorry!" she half-said, half-gasped. She couldn't hold back her tears, unable to tell whether she was crying over what Miroku had been through or because of the realization that she'd almost made a very grave mistake that would have ruined both of their lives.

Miroku simply froze in shock. He obviously hadn't expected her to believe him. After his initial bewilderment wore off though, he returned the embrace.

"I always _knew_ he was a Bastard," she sniffed, and Miroku laughed. Her eyes blurry with tears, Sango lifted her head and looked up at Miroku, who was too close, yet somehow not close enough.

A moment later, his mouth was on hers and her breath was stolen away. Miroku's lips were soft and Sango found herself nearly drowning in his scent, his warmth, his presence-

Almost as swiftly as it had began, the kiss ended, and for once, Sango didn't blush. "Ah... Miroku-"

"Shh..." Miroku whispered, putting a finger to her lips. A moment later, she realized the location of his other hand and shrieked.

"Ack! _Pervert_!" she howled, slapping him soundly and huffily moving to sit flush to her door.

While he rubbed his red, puffy cheek, she drew her cell phone out. "What should I do with this?" she mused. "Knowing Naraku, he'll have tracking sensors in these. There's no way I'm going back to HQ. If I don't complete the mission, my career's over anyway. Plus, there's no way I'm working for him any longer than necessary."

"I think you should call him," Miroku suggested. Noticing Sango's utterly scandalized look, he clarified, "Ask him for an extension on the deadline. That way, it'll be a longer time before he comes looking for us. We'd need the time to get away. Trash the phone afterward."

Sango blinked. "Good idea." She auto-dialed Naraku's number, and he picked up on the first ring.

"Something amiss, 'Jiya?"

"I was wondering if I could have some extra time to achieve the objective. It's kind of a huge step to go from simply arresting to killing, you know."

Naraku chuckled. "Surely you're not telling me that you can't handle it?"

"Of course not. But if I do something, I want to be able to do it right." Her heart was thudding in her throat. She was aware that she could give them away with a single mistake.

"Fine," Naraku acquiesced. "An extra hour. Check in then."

There was the click of a broken connection. Sango looked at the phone silently for a few moments, then tossed it out of the window. "Okay, Miroku, your move."

He started the car back up. "We're headed to _our_ headquarters," was all of the information that he provided.

Roughly twenty minutes later, he parked in front of a very familiar building with two words printed above the door in cursive letters:

Chateau Chantre.

* * *

Yay. Done. -falls asleep from post-volleyball tournament tired-ness-

* * *

****

The Beta Special!

Onigumo: -runs away from murder scene-

Miroku!Gramps: -sticks out foot and trips him-

Onigumo: x.x

Miroku!Gramps: -pulls off mask, revealing... Michael Jackson! (Who then breaks into song and dance)-

Miroku: -pauses story- HEY! That's not right!!!

Sango: -failing to maintain professional attitude... in other words, laughing her butt off-

---

Naraku: -staring unseeingly out of window- Yes, Sesshoumaru?

Sesshoumaru: Naraku, you are a fool.

Naraku: I believe we've covered that particular point in a previous conversation.

Sesshoumaru: As I recall, I didn't know that you relied on window reflections to try and maintain your all knowing evil bishounen factor. Fool.

Naraku: O.O! NO! How dare you?! You've betrayed my ultimate secret! -sobs-

Sesshoumaru: o.O I thought your ultimate secret was that you derived some weird sort of pleasure from trying to absorb people into you... Oh, wait. That's the canon setting. Never mind. Fool.


	13. The Resistance

**Disclaimer:** Me? I own zilch. 'Cept the stuff in my room.

**A/N:** Rawr.

Chapter 13: The Resistance

Sango climbed out of the car first, looking - _really_ looking - at the building in front of her. The last time she'd been here, she'd been too preoccupied with Kagome's temporary insanity to notice much about the place to which she'd been taken. She stepped toward the building as Miroku's car door swung open.

The large tinted windows provided no view inside; the only sign that the building was even being used was the sporadic flashing of the café's lit-up name and the sign on the front door.

Sango stepped up to this sign, then turned to Miroku and remarked, "It's closed."

"That much is obvious," Miroku answered calmly, smiling as if he knew something that she didn't. In fact, he probably did. "Come on, this way." He motioned for Sango to follow him, and she did, without question. The amount of trust that she had for Miroku was almost alarming, but at the same time, refreshing.

Miroku led her along the side of the building, stopping once they reached a door marked 'Employees Only Beyond This Point'. He turned to look at her, a serious expression on his face. "Sango, before we go in, there's something that you need to know."

"Hey, I'm pretty tolerant," Sango replied easily. "As long as you're not about to tell me that the place is full of convicted felons running from the l-" She paused at the look on Miroku's face. "Oh."

"It's not what you think, Sango. Every person in here has had his or her life altered by Naraku's interference. Quite a few were framed to cover the mistakes that he made when he first began his work."

"Miroku, it's not as if I couldn't have guessed all of this, judging by what he's done to _you_."

"Well, it's just that you may recognize some of these people, and-"

"And you don't want me to dash in, guns a'blazin', and shoot a few of your friends?" Sango grinned. "Miroku, you know me better than that."

Miroku didn't reply; by way of an answer, he knocked three times on the door in front of him. Absently, Sango noticed that there was no external doorknob. She occupied her mind by staring at Miroku's back and trying her best not to reach for her gun as the door swung open, revealing a man who looked vaguely familiar.

Sango mentally shifted through dozens mental files, trying to place a name with the face until finally, she landed on the right one, appalled that she'd forgotten him in the first place.

Kouga.

One of the gang leaders involved in her parents' murder, according to Naraku.

In the blink of an eye, her gun was out and pointed directly between his eyes.

Kouga merely raised an eyebrow at Miroku, utterly unconcerned. "Oi. Who's the chick?"

"Her name is Sango," Miroku answered, just as nonchalantly. "She's a rebel from Naraku's side, and I think she's on the verge of shooting you."

"Ah." Kouga looked down the barrel of Sango's gun and into her face. "What did he tell you I've done?"

Sango's mouth was dry as she answered, "That you killed my parents."

Kouga drew in a breath. "Ooh. Good one. I can assure you, I've never killed anyone. If you let me live until then, one day I'll tell you the real story of what happened that day. Miroku here _did_ tell you that Naraku's a liar, right?"

Sango blinked, then glanced at Miroku, who nodded encouragingly. Rather reluctantly, she lowered the gun.

"Thanks for that," Kouga muttered, stretching. "And now, missy, I'm going to need that gun of yours. No one gets in while armed, you know."

With a glare at Miroku for not sharing that particular bit of information, Sango handed the gun over and glared at Kouga as he turned the weapon over in his hands, studying it appraisingly. "Never been fired. Nice size for a chick, too.... Somebody stiffed you on the bullets, though."

Sango tapped her foot impatiently, ready to get past the unofficial customs agent. "What are you talking about?"

Kouga said nothing for a while, then he aimed the gun directly at Miroku and pulled the trigger. Mouth wide, Miroku jerked back and fell, red spreading across the front of his shirt.

* * *

Sesshoumaru stepped up to the nondescript door of the condo, checking the address against the slip of paper in his hand. Once sure that he was where he was supposed to be, he knocked briskly. 

There was silence for a few moments, then the door banged open and he found himself confronted by a small girl aiming a toy arrow at his chest with an equally fake bow. "What is your business here, foul demon?" the girl demanded.

Sesshoumaru regarded her for a moment. "Is your sister in?" he inquired at last. "I want to speak to her."

The little girl lowered the bow and put one hand on her hip. "Onee is out battling your kind, demon. If you want, I will be sure to tell her that you stopped by so that she can plan your dem-"

"Kaede?" A woman's voice came from an adjoining room. "Who was that at the door?"

"No one!" Kaede chirped, turning around and putting her back to Sesshoumaru, deftly hiding her bow behind her.

Obviously, the speaker did not believe her, because seconds later a woman walked into the room, a laundry basket brimming with neatly folded clothing in her arms. "Kaede," she scolded. "How many times have I told you not to open the door for strangers?" As the girl pouted, the woman looked over at Sesshoumaru. "May I help you?"

"Yes," Sesshoumaru answered, dispensing the formalities. "I am here to speak with you about Naraku."

The woman's eyes widened, then narrowed, and a look of dangerous distrust took over her face. "I am truly sorry, but I know no one of that name," she stated simply. She set the basket on an armchair and began to walk over to the door. "I wish you luck finding whoever it is that you are looking for, Mr....?"

"I know exactly who I am looking for," Sesshoumaru replied, ignoring the woman's indirect request for his name. "Luckily enough, she is standing right in front of me. You cannot ignore my request, Kikyou."

Quick as a flash, Kikyou stepped up to the door and put herself between the man and Kaede, who looked slightly disturbed. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?"

Once again, he ignored her request. "Naraku is a dangerous man, as you well know. It is only now that I have begun to doubt his seemingly honorable intentions. You know more than I about the situation, so tell me all that you know."

Kikyou reached out and grabbed the doorframe, gripping it so hard that her knuckles turned white. "Get out," she spat. "I know no Naraku, I don't know you, so please leave now."

"Have you become so selfish, Kikyou? There was a time when you would have done anything for justice. Do you know that, after your departure, Naraku hired another operative to pick up where you left off? She is called the Taijiya, but she is more naïve than you ever were. She may suspect that something is amiss about Naraku, but she lacks the ability to break free of his influence without getting those around her - maybe even herself - killed. She does not have the ability to escape as you did, Miko."

Kikyou froze at the sound of her old moniker. Memories rushed back, of her pursuing felons, of Naraku's cynical praise. This man knew who she was, what she had been. "Kaede, go play," she said finally.

Kaede looked up at her sister, her brown eyes wide and unsure. "Onee...?"

"Go on." Kaede took off for her room with a furtive look over her shoulder at Sesshoumaru as she departed. Silence fell for a few moments before Kikyou motioned for Sesshoumaru to enter.

"So, where should I begin?" she asked, shutting the door.

* * *

Sango hadn't even _begun_ to panic when Miroku sat up, looked down at himself, and groaned. "Damn it, Kouga, I _liked_ this shirt...." 

"Eh?" Sango voiced intelligently.

Kouga returned to his close study of the gun. "Blood packs," he said. "Made of hard plastic, too flat and blunt to break skin, filled with a mixture that reddens when the bullet splits and exposes it to oxygen. Not harmful at all. They can bruise a bit, though, especially at close range."

Miroku touched the mess on his shirt, then glared up at Kouga, leaping to his feet. "You _bruised_ me? My poor Adonis-like marble perfection..." Sango elbowed him sharply, hiding a smirk. Now that she was over the initial shock, the situation was actually quite funny.

Kouga lifted his button-down shirt, revealing a large holster that was capable of holding guns of all sizes. He tucked her gun into one, then pushed the door open wide behind him and nodded to Miroku and Sango.

"Anyway, you're in. Miroku, keep your eye on her. She's your responsibility for as long as she's here."

"Yeah. Thanks." Miroku gave Sango a gentle push. "Let's go. There are more people that you should meet, after all."

Sango moved forward, stepping over the threshold and contemplating the blood packs that her gun had been outfitted with. It was, without a doubt, the work of Shippou. He _had_ mentioned something about a bullet that he'd come up with for her... Mentally thanking him, she moved into the entrance hall, Miroku just behind her.

* * *

Kagome burst into the office, skidding to a stop at Shippou's desk and nearly falling flat on her face. Ignoring the whispers of her coworkers, she hissed, "Sango's gone!" 

"I know," the teenager replied.

"I went by her house and it was ransacked! Stuff was thrown everywhere-"

"I know."

"-and she was nowhere to be found! Plus, I tried to call her and she didn't answer-"

"She couldn't-"

"-So then I called the cops and they only just now let me go! They took my fingerprints and all that, the jerks! Like I'd ever hurt Sango-"

"Kagome."

"-or break into her house or-"

"_Kagome_."

"-anything like that! Shippou, we need to find her!"

"Kagome! Listen to me." Shippou waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention. When the young woman didn't immediately restart her rant, he lifted up a small device that looked rather like a palm pilot.

"Ooh, does it have Pac-Man?"

Shippou sighed. "Focus, Kagome. It's a tracking device. It's meant to follow the chips planted in field agents' phones. A while ago, Sango's just winked out."

"So she _is _hurt?"

"Sango's not a victim, whatever the evidence may be pointing at right now. The signal vanished right after she made a call to Naraku. My guess is that she smashed it herself."

Kagome tapped her fingers on the desk. "You think she's run off?"

"Kagome, that's _exactly_ what I think. Her target was, judging by her reaction to his picture, absolutely gorgeous in her sights. Either Sango has defected, or she knows something that we don't."

Neither said anything for a while, both mulling over this information. Finally, Kagome asked, "So what do we do now? Tell Naraku?"

Shippou winced. "I can't believe I'm saying this, Kagome, but who do you trust more?"

"Sango, I guess," Kagome affirmed.

"Then we keep quiet. If Sango knows something about this case that's made it impossible to complete, chances are that she'll contact one of us. If not, we'll have to take the side of our employer."

Kagome sighed. "So that's all we can do for now? Wait?"

Shippou nodded. "We wait. And we trust Sango's judgment."

* * *

The four scholarships that I was juggling are finally sent off, and I have more time for myself... and this fic, of course. Sorry for the wait on this one, but I blocked for a while, wrote this chapter, hated this chapter, was on the verge of deleting this chapter, sent this chapter off to be beta-ed, found out that the beta was grounded and - but you don't want to hear me rant, now do you? Until next time! 


	14. Meetings and Even More Suspicion

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

A/N: Don't kill me! -cringes-

Akimi: Ooh! Let me do the title!

Corisu: -- If you so desire...

Akimi: -types-

Chapter 14: Hey, Look, It's the Plot! Wait... Never Mind... It Ran Away...

Corisu: -seethes- Akiiiiii...

Akimi: -runs-

Corisu: Here's the real title. Sheesh. -takes out dart gun and hunts Aki-

Chapter 14: Meetings and Suspicions

Kouga was obviously on sentry duty for the night; he plopped into a rickety-looking metal chair beside the door. He reached for the MP3 player beside his chair and put on the headphones. As the loud thrum of rock music filled the air, Sango raised an eyebrow at Miroku.

"What kind of a watchman listens to loud music?" she asked.

Miroku shrugged and took a few steps down the hallway, trusting Sango to follow. "He has exceptional hearing."

"Then why does he need to listen to his music so loud?" Sango replied bemusedly. She wasn't at all interested in Kouga's taste in music. The questions that she was asking were merely a diversionary tactic - her own brand of distraction that was serving to deflect her thoughts from the fact that she was about to enter a room full of unfamiliar, possibly hostile faces whilst being unarmed.

After a short walk down the unlit hallway, Miroku stopped short at a black curtain. "Welcome," he said, "to our hideaway." He stepped out of his shoes and took the step up, shoving the curtain aside and stepping through, leaving an uncertain Sango standing in the darkness.

For a split-second, she considered turning around, retrieving her gun from Kouga, and taking off. Her life had been so much more simple before she had met Miroku. Right and wrong were as easy to tell apart as black and white. Now, everything was in shades of gray, and Sango was practically colorblind.

The only thing that persuaded her to step through that curtain was the knowledge that Miroku was on the other side.

She removed her shoes and slipped into the adjacent room, squinting a bit in the sudden light. Blinking, she kept her eyes half-hooded until they adjusted to the brightness. Once they did, she noticed that one thing really stood out about the room -

- it was utterly _normal_.

It was set up like a living room. There was a large television against one wall, and in front of it, a woman with her hair in a bun was arguing with someone who looked vaguely familiar to Sango, tugging the remote back and forth. There was also a large blue couch that was covered with expensive-looking embroidery. This couch stretched around the perimeter of the room; on one corner, Inuyasha was splayed, snoring. A girl who couldn't have been more than seventeen was sitting on the other side of the couch, sewing. Her hair was a shocking hue: The same pale color as Inuyasha's.

Two men were playing cards over a coffee table in the middle of the room. They looked up as Miroku and Sango entered. "Hey, Miroku!" the one with a mohawk called. "Up for a game of poker? Beating Ginta's no fun when I'm the only one kicking his butt."

Ginta spluttered indignantly as Miroku laughed. "Not now, Hakkaku. There's someone I'd like everybody to meet."

'Ginta? Hakkaku? Now, where have I heard those names before...' Sango racked her brain for a moment, then the memory slid into place. They had been at the modeling class. And they had seen her in the hellishly revealing bikini. Sango flushed and tried to disappear. After a tortuous moment of blushing, she was stirred out of her temporary embarrassment by Miroku's voice.

"Everyone, this is Sango."

As everyone turned to look at her, Sango took an involuntary step back. The faces that she saw were the same ones on numerous unsolved cases in Naraku's files. She couldn't help cataloguing everyone in the room. Perturbed, she realized that she must have been much too preoccupied with the fact that she was revealing herself to strangers during that modeling class to recognize the two card-playing men. Names and crimes jumped out at her like 3-D pictures:

Ginta and Hakkaku: Alleged bank robbers who collected more than four million dollars.

The sewing girl - Kanna - and the woman with a bun - Kagura: The Imachi sisters, who had allegedly killed their parents.

Yura (the name jumped out at Sango; she had heard it during the outing to Chateau Chantre, but the woman's demeanor simply hadn't fit her crime): A woman who fancied herself a witch and 'ritually sacrificed' her neighbors.

Forcing herself to speak, Sango finally managed to say, "Hello."

Kanna's dark eyes, which had returned to her sewing after her initial glance at the newcomer, snapped back up and regarded Sango briefly. She waved a needle at her by way of greeting and went back to her work.

"Heya, Sango!" Ginta greeted brightly, waving. Unbeknownst to him, Hakkaku leaned over, glancing at the other man's cards, then slipped three cards from the top of the deck into his own lap.

"Yeah, heya," he echoed, grinning evilly. He then blinked. "Wait. Sango?" A slow grin crept across his face. "Hey, you're the modeling chick!"

Sango glared. "What did you call me?"

Hakkaku fidgeted. "Uh... an immensely pretty young woman deserving of respect?"

"That's what I thought."

The woman who had been arguing with Kagura spoke up next. "Hello. I'm Yura!" she said, releasing the remote. "How are ya?"

Kagura momentarily ignored Sango in favor of changing the channel. The show that she stopped on featured an interview between a balding old man in a pinstriped suit and 'an FBI agent', as the subtitle proclaimed. Only the agent's profile was shown, but it was easy to determine that the person was male, judging by the set of the shoulders and his concise gestures.

Sango bowed to those in the room, and, much to her surprise, they went right back to what they had been doing. She had expected to be singled out, treated with suspicion, but instead, she was welcomed and treated no differently than anyone else there. It was an odd feeling, but a good one nonetheless.

Turning back around to the television, Yura groaned. "Kagura! Not this again! You've seen it about ten times by now!"

Kagura sniffed, dropped the remote down her shirt and folded her arms. "What can I say? Sesshoumaru's a sexah biatch."

Everyone except Sango rolled their eyes and Inuyasha jerked awake. "Sesshoumaru? Where?"

Kagura glanced at him. "Down, boy."

Ignoring her, Inuyasha sat up, stretched, yawned, saw Sango, and froze. "Oi!" He hopped up from the couch and pointed at Sango, his finger mere inches away from her nose. "I thought I told you to get _rid_ of this bitch, not bring her here! Has it ever crossed your mind that she's a fed?"

Immediately, all eyes but Kagura's were on Sango. She obviously found the television more interesting than a cop in their headquarters.

"Well..." Miroku began, and Sango was sure that he was about to say something stupid. "...she is."

Yep. Stupid.

Both Yura and Hakkaku made as if to stand. Since Hakkaku was closest to Sango, she could see his hand reach for his ankle, most likely searching out a weapon hidden there.

"Whoa, wait!" Miroku said quickly. "She's defected from Naraku. She's here to help us!"

'I am?' Sango thought, and immediately, insecurity swelled within her. She had thought that Miroku's only motive for bringing her to this hideout was to protect her from Naraku's influence. What if he had just brought her there for his own gain, and not because he actually cared? 'I know better than that,' she argued with herself, though not convincingly.

"How are you so sure?" This question came from Kagura, who had muted the television in favor of more real entertainment. Sango stared at her for a moment, wondering if the woman was a mind-reader. A second later, she realized that the question was directed at Miroku.

Miroku put a hand on Sango's shoulder. "She has my full confidence, Kagura. If you don't trust my judgment, that's your loss."

Kagura shrugged. "If she gets us all killed, I'm not promising that I won't say 'I told you so'."

Sango spied a door at the far end of the room. Mentally charting the place in her head, she deduced where it must lead. Throwing Miroku's hand from her shoulder, she began to stalk toward that door, an opening to the kitchens.

Miroku stared after her for a moment. 'She seems angry...' "Sango, wait!" He followed her from the room, leaving the others to stare after them curiously.

Finally, Inuyasha shrugged and plopped back down on the sofa with a yawn. "Wake me up if the bitch starts shooting up the place." Yura tossed a pillow at him, Kanna remained detached, Kagura renewed the sound on the television, and Ginta put Hakkaku into a headlock after discovering that the latter had five aces.

---

Sango burst into the kitchen, tears already shimmering in her eyes. It was all too much, just too much. She felt like hitting something, or more specifically, someone, but she settled for marching to the other side of the restaurant's spacious kitchen. She pulled herself up to sit on a countertop between a sink and a cluster of hanging pots and buried her face in her hands.

In such a position, she couldn't see Miroku following her trail, but she felt it, as if he were parting the air in front of him like a deviously sexy knife through butter. "Sango, what's wr-"

"What's wrong?" Sango murmured into her hands. The sound was soft, just loud enough to stop Miroku's voice mid-sentence. She raised her head, showing that the tears had begun to make their way down her cheeks. "What's _wrong_?" she repeated, her voice strained and slightly cracked with anger and other, less definable emotions.

Miroku took a step back, holding his hands in front of him as if blocking a true torrent of Sango's ire. "Was it... something I said?" he asked finally, rather ineffectively.

"Yes and no," she answered petulantly, knowing that she sounded like a bratty child and not caring.

Reaching for her shoulder, Miroku retook the step that he'd lost, moving forward. Sango leaned back in response, away from his touch. "Sango, if you don't tell me what it is, I can't reassure you that I mean no harm."

Sango took a shuddering breath. "Miroku, I've just found out that the man that I've been crediting with my parents' deaths is innocent, that I've been surrounded by convicted felons of questionable morals while wearing a bathing suit, and-" She paused, and blinked slowly. Something that Kagura had said stood out in her mind.

"Sesshoumaru's a sexah biatch."

'An FBI Agent'

"Damn it," she muttered. "Sesshoumaru was Naraku's man. He was tracking me." By the look on Miroku's face, she could tell that this was not news to him. "You knew," she accused.

"I knew," he confirmed. "But I thought that he was after _me_. He showed up at the class just a couple of days ago. The only reason that _I _knew his name was because I was the professor for the week. I had a few of my contacts look himup, follow him, and they discovered that the seemingly mild-mannered art student by day was a Naraku-lackey by night."

Sango's mind tottered somewhere between incredulity, irritation, and hurt. "You could have told me."

"No, I couldn't have," Miroku replied, and there was a cool edge to his voice that hadn't been there before. "Pretty hard to confide in someone who doesn't even admit who she is until she has a gun to your head."

"Don't you get self-righteous on me," she spat. "I had no reason to trust you-"

"I gave you every reason to trust me!" he shot back, his voice rising.

"Secret conversations in the corner? Having Inuyasha do research on me, and break into my house?"

Miroku slammed his palm down on the counter beside Sango. It must have stung, but his face showed nothing as he leaned closer to her. "It sounds to me like _you're_ the one that's untrustworthy."

Sango returned his glare for a seemingly endless moment. Though her brown eyes seemed to darken with her anger, the centers of Miroku's eyes, around the pupils, seemed to pale. This phenomenon made it difficult for her to meet his eyes for long. She averted her gaze, staring down at the sparkling sink. "Well, if I'm so untrustworthy, why do you assume that I'll help you?" With her eyes turned away, her anger returned full-force. "After all, the only reason that you brought me here was for your own good."

Miroku was silent for a long while, and the only thing that could be heard was the distant hum of the television in the adjacent room.

"If you really believe that," Miroku said quietly, all of the bitter emotion gone from his voice, "then maybe you should leave. But I want you to know, Sango, that I care deeply for you, no matter what you decide."

He leaned in as if to kiss her, but Sango turned her head aside, causing his lips to make the merest of brushes against her cheek. Miroku didn't seem to notice her movement; he just crossed the kitchen to the door and disappeared through it.

Sango stared after him for a long moment.

Once that moment ended, her face crumpled and she began to cry bitterly.

---

-reiterates- Don't kill me. Finals are over, and I have my life back. -commences working on next chapter-


	15. The Truth

Disclaimer: Nyet.

A/N: -hides-

Chapter 15: The Truth

"He had been deceiving you," Kikyou told Sesshoumaru. "You thought that you'd been doing what you do for the public good when, in fact, you've only been benefiting his personal whims all along."

"Elaborate," Sesshoumaru said simply.

Kikyou lifted the small cup of tea in her hands to her mouth. She had insisted that the two move into the modest kitchen set off from the dining room since the lighting was much better. It had been a good decision; the room seemed more homely and at odds with their topic of discussion.

"He's a liar," she said firmly. "Everything that you have done while working under him was a front, leaving you to cover up his mistakes."

"How do you know this?" Sesshoumaru's own cup sat in front of him, untouched. To some, it may have shown impoliteness to not drink offered tea, but, in fact, he was quite respectfully listening to what Kikyou had to say.

"Naraku's an idiot. He has such an over-inflated ego that he thinks he'll never be caught. Because of this, he keeps a casebook, his version of a trophy case. In order to keep all of his lies straight, he has to keep logs of everything he does. His big-headedness is what makes him keep said casebook in plain sight."

What she was saying registered in Sesshoumaru's mind, and he regarded her with cynicism. "You are telling me that you have been to Naraku's home?"

Kikyou nodded. "Only that one time. His house - well, more like a mansion - is secreted away, quite a distance from HQ. I may very well be the only person outside of his inner circle who knows where he lives."

"I don't know where he lives."

"Well, that tells you something, doesn't it?" she replied wryly, sipping at her tea.

Sesshoumaru let that pass without comment. "About the casebook?"

"He had begun to trust me. I have no idea why. Probably because I did what he needed done without question. I really believed that what I was doing benefited the common man." She paused, standing and stepping over to the counter, where she dropped a few more tealeaves into her empty cup. She set the cup on the counter as she turned on the range, setting her royal blue teapot over the open flame. There was enough water inside to afford her another cup; she didn't have to worry about Sesshoumaru, after all.

"The casebook was inside the glass coffee table in his den. I had no idea that it was even a real book until I tripped the switch with my foot. The wooden panel closest to the couch that I was sitting on swung upward. Curiosity led me to open it... and inside was every single case that he'd assigned and what it was meant to cover up." She made a face. "I'd been used to bring down someone to whom Naraku owed a huge debt, for one. I had no time to look through it, though; I'd only been left alone for a few moments. I snapped the panel back into place just as he re-entered. I don't even remember why I was there that day, to tell you the truth. Anyway, I waited a week before resigning, hoping that he wouldn't suspect anything, though I suppose he did. I'm fairly sure that he has heightened security by now. After all, I'm still alive, and I know where he lives. A bad combination for Naraku."

Sesshoumaru had been silent and stoic throughout her monologue. Finally, he said, "Why did you fail to take what you knew to a higher authority? There is another facility in Mibu, not too far from here."

Kikyou's brown eyes flamed with indignation. "There is no way that they would believe me without proof, and there was no way that I could get back into my FBI credentials-"

"So you ran away," Sesshoumaru finished, a bit of disdain creeping into his voice.

"What did you expect me to do?" Kikyou bit out. The teapot began to whistle behind her, but she ignored it for the moment, fixing Sesshoumaru with an angry stare. "Would you prefer it if I had stayed on the force, killing for Naraku's underhanded reasons?"

"Yes," he replied succinctly. "That is exactly what I'm implying."

She stared incredulously at him, her mouth slightly open. "What?"

"If you had remained in your station, you could have saved several lives from being destroyed by spreading the word, raising suspicion among your colleagues. Many already suspect Naraku of being less than honorable, but they lack a reason to turn against him. You have forced Naraku to pick another killer from his ranks. Even before that, can you fathom those that were killed because of your desertion? All of your cases were reassigned."

"To you, I suppose," she said sourly, turning and snatching the teapot off the flame before it could drive her insane with its incessant trilling.

"In part," he conceded. "But for now, we must be concerned with more important things..." He picked up his cup of lukewarm tea and circled the table, coming to a stop at the open window. With a swift movement, he stuck his arm outside and upended the cup. A startled yelp came from the bushes below and a man's head came into view, his dark brown hair matted with tea as he spluttered.

"Well, well. Who do we have here?" Sesshoumaru said, eyeing the slightly plump man.

Kikyou watched in interest, the teapot cooling once again. The man wiped a bit of tea from his face, blinked, then muttered, barely audibly, "Oh, great. Miroku-sama's going to _kill_ me..."

-

Assured that her face betrayed no sign of her previous tears, Sango pulled the door open and stepped through. The now-familiar living room stretched before her. She had no idea how long she'd been in the kitchen, but the human element in the room had definitely changed. Ginta and Hakkaku had joined Yura and Kagura in front of the television, which was tuned to some anime set in either the Bakumatsu or the Meiji period, judging by the attire. Kanna hadn't moved, but Inuyasha was now sitting up, watching the show.

"Feh. The guy's a lightweight," he was saying as Sango entered. "I could take him."

Ginta laughed. "Doubt it, Inuyasha. He'd slam you six feet deep with his Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

Kagura punched Ginta in the arm, pretty hard, judging by the wince that crossed his face. "Shut up."

Sango moved into the room, emboldened by the fact that Miroku was nowhere to be found. She wasn't quite sure that she could face him at the moment. Sitting near Inuyasha on the couch, she feigned interest in the anime. "So, what's on?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Ask Ginta. He's the anime nerd." Despite his vehement opposition to Miroku's bringing Sango to the Chateau, he seemed to have already accepted her as one of them.

"I resent that!" Ginta called, then grinned at Sango. "It's Rurouni Kenshin. Man, some people just don't appreciate good television."

Not quite sure what to say to that, Sango nodded briefly. There was a protracted silence, during which a redhead clobbered a huge man with a dull-looking sword. "Inuyasha?" she ventured.

"Yeah?"

"I have this strange feeling that you trashed my house. You would've had to find my gun, after all... So are you going to put it back in order?"

Had Inuyasha been looking at Sango, he would have seen the dangerous portent on her face. Looking at the screen, however, he missed it, and foolishly answered, "No."

"Ah." Sango nodded calmly. "I see."

In the time it took for the others in the room to glance up at the disaster waiting to happen, Sango had already begun to pummel Inuyasha with a couch cushion.

"Ow! Hey! Miroku told me to-"

"So he told you to trash my place?!"

"Not in so many words - ah! Hey, that's _attached_! Ow!"

Before she had finished exacting sweet, sweet revenge (and venting Miroku-related frustration), a shout went up from the door where Kouga was stationed.

"Oh, what the hell is going on out there," Kagura snapped, pushing herself to her feet and putting a hand on her hip, obviously intending to go out there and check out the situation herself. "That damn Kouga. I bet he's done something stupid again-"

Her voice tapered off as a form tumbled through the black curtain that served as a door. The man stumbled, made an odd sort of two-step, then became tangled in his own feet and fell flat on his face.

Everyone tensed visibly. All but Sango recognized the man on the floor, and it was because of this that she was equally apprehensive of the fallen form and whoever would come through the curtain next.

Said curtain ruffled, as if in a light wind, signaling that the exterior door must have still been open. A few muffled words, then Kouga stepped into the room, carefully placing his foot on the small of the prone man's back. The look on his face was positively murderous; his blue eyes glinted angrily and glared at the man as if he wanted to spit on him.

"He got caught," Kouga managed, practically shaking with fury.

"_What_?" Kagura fired, not at Kouga, but at the man on the floor. "Hachi, you incompetent fool!"

Practically cowering into the floor at the sound of his name, Hachi murmured, "I'm sorry!"

"You're sorry?" Inuyasha howled, bolting up from the couch. "What if he followed you back here?"

Kouga met Inuyasha's eyes. "Didya notice how I said that he was _caught_, not that he was _seen_?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the stationary black curtain. "Guess who's waiting outside?"

Inuyasha swore and took a step forward, but Kouga spoke up again before he could advance any further. "Don't. She's out there, too. Kikyou."

The pale-haired man's eyes widened slightly, and he stared at Kouga as if waiting for him to refute what he'd just said. When no such denial came forth, his fists clenched at his sides and he spun on his heels, retreating through the door that had been Sango's escape route. Obviously, there was much more through that door that just a kitchen.

Kouga looked after him for a while, then removed his foot from Hachi. He debated kicking him for a moment, then thought better of it. "I'm bringing 'em in," he told the room, exiting.

Throughout this entire exchange, Sango had been perched on the couch, listening with agent's ears. She couldn't rationalize Inuyasha's response, but she could tell by the tight-lipped demeanor of everyone else (except Kagura, who looked fairly interested, and Kanna, who was still sewing) that the person waiting outside with this Kikyou person was none other than the minion of Naraku that had been trailing her.

Hachi rose to his hands, shaking all over, and slunk over to rest his back against the nearest wall. Hakkaku approached him. "Hey, if nobody else does, I understand. Sesshoumaru's nothing if not a good agent."

"At least you ferrets know talent when you see it," Sesshoumaru said as he came in, locking eyes with each of them in turn but favoring Sango with the most intense gaze. "Well, I would be proud of predicting your mutiny were I still currying Naraku's approval."

Sango said nothing to this, but couldn't hold back a small sound when a woman that looked every bit as stoic as Sesshoumaru, if not more so, joined the group. Kouga followed her, crossing his arms and looking the part of a surly bodyguard. "Miko..."

"All right," Kagura snapped before Sango could manage another word. "I want to know what the hell's going on here. Is this some kind of Bring Your Cop to HQ Day? Because if it is, I _really_ think we should have put it to a vote first." Her hand flickered toward her hair momentarily, the motion seemingly unconscious.

"They can bring down Naraku," Hachi said quietly. "They know things."

"The sniveling one is correct," Kikyou agreed. "We know what we need to expose Naraku's treachery, and where to get it."

"Well," came a cheery voice. Miroku entered with a flutter of curtains. "I suppose we'll just hear you out, then. And Kouga, never leave the door open again." His voice was light, but there was a graveness there that made Kouga nod his assent.

Miroku plopped down on the couch near where Sango was standing and looked around at the others. "Why are you all standing? This is sanctuary; sit. Our visitors are welcome here, as long as they don't try anything."

Sango sat back down beside Miroku, trying her best not to meet his eyes. The situation between them seemed more than a little awkward at the moment.

Luckily, she wasn't forced to deal with it. As everyone else took a seat, Sesshoumaru began to speak and the occupants of the room paid rapt attention.

-

Review!


	16. Reconnaissance

Disclaimer: Nyet.

A/N: Getting to the serious stuff now… whee! Also, mock trial is killing me. I'll be glad when the competition is over. Lawyers have a really hard job…

A/N 2: Eheh. Okay, mock trial's over now. Hence the new chapter! Don' t kill me, neh?

Chapter 16: Reconnaissance

With Sesshoumaru's recounting fresh in their heads, everyone sat in silence, mulling over the information. Inuyasha had returned to the room about halfway through, and, Sango noticed, he kept a wary distance between himself and Kikyou. As a matter of fact, if he were to look in her direction, a curtain of his hair would have hid her from view, anyway. She studied him curiously, wondering what had possibly happened to evoke this kind of reaction from Inuyasha, who usually showed nothing but irritation and similar emotions.

"One problem," Sango said finally, and everyone glanced up at her. "We can't just barge in and take the case log. It's unlawful."

"Sango is right," Miroku agreed, offering her a small smile before turning his gaze on Sesshoumaru. "Anything that we obtain can't be used in court. Naraku could get out of the situation by simply denying that he's ever seen the book before. Or worse, he could bring up the fact that we used illegal means to get it, and then we would be the ones in trouble."

"We are far ahead of you," Kikyou responded. "I have contacted central headquarters – for you outsiders, they are pretty much Naraku's bosses. After they spoke to Sesshoumaru and me, they agreed to allow us to explore Naraku's home with as much backup as necessary. If we fail to produce the case log, however, they have pretty much declared that we are on our own."

These words washed over the others as they sat in silence. "So, we have the ability to just barge right in there and do whatever we want?" Kagura asked skeptically. "Call me pessimistic, but I'm damn sure that your superiors aren't that easygoing."

"They will do what needs to be done to expose corruption," Sesshoumaru answered simply.

Kagura stared at him for a moment, an eyebrow raised skeptically. Finally, she shrugged and waved a hand almost dismissively. "Fine. I'm in."

"Me, too," Kouga said gruffly. "No way am I going to pass up a chance to bring Naraku down."

Miroku nodded. "Same here."

In the end, those in the room that were willing (and confident) enough to participate in the infiltration had spoken up. They had enough for two groups: Sesshoumaru, Sango, Miroku, and Kouga in one and Kikyou, Inuyasha, Kagura, and Kanna in another. At first, Kagura had been strongly against letting her younger sister participate, but she had acceded once Inuyasha pointed out that Kanna was the best of them all when it came to breaching security.

"Okay," Miroku said once the teams were formed and everyone that was to be involved was feeling the thrill that came once a plan was in motion. "Now all we need is a plan for infiltration."

Kikyou answered, being the one that knew the most about the layout of Naraku's home. "There are two main entrances at the east and west sides. The room with the case log in it is closest to the western door, so I'd advise taking my group in through the west while the others go through the eastern door."

"Why do we all need to go in separate doors?" Inuyasha asked, scratching his head. Obviously, the impending action had surmounted whatever it was that was keeping him from being entirely comfortable around Kikyou. "I mean, is the second group just going to paint graffiti on the walls or something? 'Cause if so, I think I need to change groups." He smirked slightly.

"A distraction," Kikyou answered. "It would be impossible for Naraku's men to cover both doors with adequate protection."

Sango nodded. "It makes perfect sense. So, while we distract and dispatch the guards at the front, you guys do the same at the back? When do we begin?"

"Tonight, as long as you all feel up to it. Naraku will be looking for both Sango and Sesshoumaru, and though he is a deceiver, he is not an idiot. If we wait so much as a day, it is highly likely that he will have relocated by that time."

"Right," Miroku said thoughtfully. "So then, our group – let's say Group A – will go in the east and create a big scene while Group B infiltrates the west. But don't you think Naraku would just grab the log and run once he hears all the commotion?"

"Possible," Sesshoumaru allowed. "Each group should leave a sentry at the door, then. Just in case."

The group spent the better part of an hour tossing ideas around and making their plans concrete. They talked until the very last bits of sun had faded from the sky and they were faced with pitch-blackness. The night was utterly moonless, the perfect conditions for such a mission.

Kouga had returned Sango's gun and provided her with the proper ammunition that could do the intended amount of damage. Everyone else who was not usually outfitted with a gun received one from Kouga as well. Sango was mildly surprised to learn that Miroku kept a piece strapped to his right calf; she found this out when he removed it to place it in a shoulder holster that he'd dug out of a corner.

After a few seemingly endless minutes, everyone was prepared for the infiltration. Kouga and Inuyasha had offered to drive; they set off behind the building to get the cars while everyone else filed out to wait for them to pull up. Everyone, that is, except Miroku and Sango. When Sango had made a motion as if to follow, Miroku had caught her gently by the hand.

"Sango, we need to talk."

"Isn't that my line?" she replied waspishly, not even sure why she was angry any more. Whatever it was, as she met Miroku's eyes and pulled her hand from his grasp, she became increasingly positive that whatever it was couldn't have been all that important.

Miroku rolled his eyes. "Sango, you're being childish. We're not going to get through this alive if you keep sniping at me every five minutes."

"Oh, so now, you're telling me in advance that it's my fault if we get killed?" Sango replied coldly, knowing that this jump was unprovoked and nonsensical, but unable to bring herself to a point at which she cared.

"Why are you doing this?" In contrast to Sango's low and dangerous voice, he was speaking rationally in a neutral tone. "Why is there always a snide comment to make when it comes to you?"

Sango turned away quickly, her arms immediately rising to hug herself. "I'm a snide sort of person, Nakano. Get used to it."

"You're not," Miroku responded calmly, and Sango could feel him draw closer but could do nothing about it. "You're beautiful, caring, strong… anything but snide. You are also a terrible drunk, but I was going for the positive route here…" An involuntary laugh fell from Sango's lips before she could stop herself. "The point of this is, you're not acting like this because of some character flaw. What's going on with you?"

Sango looked over her shoulder at the man, who was near enough to reach out and hug her, and seemed to be keeping himself from doing so with a great amount of restraint. She was completely prepared to tell him off, to tell him that there was no reason for him to keep harping on her because she was unable to return his emotions. She wanted to tell him that she never wanted to see him again because she was utterly afraid… afraid of…

Miroku watched as a lone tear trailed down Sango's cheek and made as if to speak, but before he could, she had launched herself into his arms. "You want to know what's wrong?" she said softly, her words muffled by his shirt. She could feel the scratchiness of the holster crossing his chest against her nose as she wrapped her arms around him as best as she could. "I'm… scared," she admitted, closing her eyes.

Recovering from his temporary shock, he returned her embrace. "There's no need to be," he tried to reassure her. "We don't even know if Naraku has a heavy guard-"

"Not that," Sango cut him off, irritated. Raising her head from his chest, she looked up into his eyes. "I'm not afraid of the mission. I'm afraid of… you." At his confused look, she explained further. "I'm afraid of what you do to me, the reactions that you cause. I'm afraid of those damn eyes of yours, because they always make me want to tell the truth, no matter how much it may hurt coming out. I'm afraid because you're here and because you might go away. I'm afraid because I think I _love_ you, Miroku, and I don't know what to do." Unable to meet his gaze any longer, she dropped her head back down, tears oozing slowly from behind her closed eyelids. She hadn't gotten this close to anyone, not even Kagome, since her parents' deaths, and wasn't even sure that she was doing the right thing even now.

Her fears proved entirely unfounded, however, when Miroku pulled away just enough to take her chin gently in one hand and lift her head to look up at him. "Do the only thing you can," he murmured, a small smile on his face. "Follow your heart. Horribly cliché, I know, but I've found that it's never led me wrong yet." Then, before Sango could even reply, he had lowered his lips to hers and was kissing her firmly, letting the hand that had held her chin stray to the nape of her neck as he became sure that she wasn't moving away.

Sango's eyes fluttered closed again and she was lost within moments, torn between relief and apprehension. She was immensely glad that she wasn't being pushed away and, as always, her skin tingled with pleasure at any contact with Miroku. But she knew that, if she were distracted tonight, it could have dire consequences.

Putting her hands on either side of his face, she pulled slowly away, the faintest of blushes on her cheeks. The more she seemed to get herself into these situations, the more comfortable she became in them, apparently. She could have stood there all night, gazing into those fathomless violet orbs, were it not for the sudden loud bleat of a horn.

"HEY! Get out here, nighttime's a'wasting!" Kouga shouted, his voice wafting through the open door.

Miroku shook his head in mock derision. "Right. Risking our lives. Forgot about that for a moment." He planted a light kiss on the tip of Sango's nose. "We'll be fine," he said firmly, reaching out for her hand.

Nodding slowly and still unable to speak, she took Miroku's hand in her own and walked with him through the curtain and out of the building.

* * *

They pulled to a stop quite a while later, a block from Naraku's mansion, according to Kikyou. They hopped out and congregated on the sidewalk; their travel had been facilitated by two vans, painted a violent purple that didn't even try to blend into the darkness. _Chateau Chantre_ was stamped across their sides in large gold letters. This was part of the reason that they hadn't tried to roll right up to Naraku's front door in them – they attracted far too much attention.

"Group A, approach in pairs," Kikyou said, taking immediate control. "We'll give you five minutes before moving around to the west. Keep your heads."

With a nod to her, Sesshoumaru immediately strode in the correct direction, a hand in the pocket of his coat as if he were simply out for a late-night stroll. Kouga followed, keeping quite a distance behind him. Obviously, he still didn't completely trust him. Sango and Miroku set off next, hand-in-hand and probably the least conspicuous out of the entire group.

They didn't speak for the entire walk, but this was hardly awkward. It was a very short walk, and their brisk pace shortened it even further. It was only a few minutes before they happened upon a high gate, surrounded by a high wall of shrubbery. Kouga and Sesshoumaru were hanging back slightly, ducked behind a dumpster; there were two guards at the gate. They were not planning to use the gate, anyway; it would be far easier to climb the shrub fence than enter the gate and risk meeting a security code or camera.

As Miroku and Sango caught up, Sesshoumaru pulled a coil of something out of his pocket. It caught the light from the nearest streetlamp and shone. "Piano wire?" Sango whispered to Miroku, and he nodded.

"I don't think they're going to kill them, just incapacitate them. Gunshots wouldn't leave much a chance for infiltration, after all."

Sesshoumaru had twisted a length of the rope until it popped free of the coil and handed it to Kouga, who wrapped it around his hands, leaving about a foot and a half in the middle. The agent then got a piece for himself and repocketed the coil before following suit. "Though I know I can," Sesshoumaru said, glancing at Kouga, "Perhaps it would not be wise to run right up there and take out those guards. Cameras, and all."

Kouga nodded. "Yeah. Though I _could_ just take 'em out, it's too big a risk. We need to lure them away from the gates."

"Precisely."

Sango suddenly became aware that everyone was looking her way. She stared right back. "What?"

"Well, you _are_ a chick…" Kouga said, as if he were having an epiphany.

Sango stared exclusively at him, now. "You are _not _expecting me to run up there waving my arms around and screaming 'rape'." Her eyes were narrowed dangerously.

"I was thinking more 'assault', myself, _but_…" Miroku, of course.

Sesshoumaru said, quite calmly, "Would you rather jeopardize the mission?"

Sango blinked. "Oh, damn you. Damn you all…"

A mere thirty seconds later, Sango was running for the guards, the cuff of her right sleeve dangling by a few threads. She was also limping on every other step since one her boots was missing. "Hey!" she shouted, trying to imbue her voice with terror and probably only managing to sound derisive.

Whatever the case, it caught the guards' attention. The one on the left jerked suddenly, peering around in the darkness. Sango was suddenly aware that she was wearing all black and was probably blending in quite well from this distance.

Hating every moment of this, she waved her arms over her head. "Hey!" she yelled again, and was pleased to note that, this time she managed to put a little waver in her voice. "Help! Over here!"

Hands on the holsters of their guns, the guards trotted toward her. Sango dropped her arms and frowned. Men really were idiots sometimes, assuming that all females were damsels in distress…

"What's the problem, miss?" the thinner one asked as they drew closer.

Sango schooled her face into a panicked expression, then pointed at the dumpster. "Over there! He jumped me! Tried to… to…" She buried her face in her hands, half for the theatrical appearance and half because she thought she was going to begin laughing hysterically.

Apparently, the guards bought it, because they moved toward the dumpster, pulling their guns slowly. "Anyone behind there! C'mon out, now," the slightly bigger cop called, aiming his gun at the ground.

There was a moment of silence, then Miroku emerged with his hands in the air, smiling in a rather winning manner. "Now, now, gentlemen, can't we talk about this rationally?"

Sango laughed at this, but disguised it as a yelp of terror. "That's him!"

"Get down!" The thin man called out. "And keep your hands where we can see them!"

Still grinning, Miroku complied. "You might want to get this gun off me," he said thoughtfully, raising his left arm purposefully high and flashing his holster. "Don't want it to get scratched."

This had the desired effect; both guards began to move closer to him, keeping their guns on him. Sango noted that their fingers were not on the triggers, since it was rudimentary to keep your fingers off the trigger unless you were planning to shoot immediately.

It happened so swiftly that it looked scripted – Kouga and Sesshoumaru sprinted from behind the dumpster and brought their arms over the guards' heads, pulling the piano wire tightly against their throats. As a reflex, the guards had pulled their hands up to their throats, not even thinking of using their guns and probably too shocked to use them if they had. But to be on the safe side…

When Miroku tossed Sango her other boot from behind the dumpster, she used the heel to knock the guns loose from the squirming guards' hands. The thinner one was scrabbling hopelessly at his own neck, drawing thin lines of blood. Kouga was holding him, and managed to scoff, even though he was obviously under great strain to hold the thrashing man.

Sango was doing her best to ignore that scene, so she replaced her boot and looked disgustedly at her sleeve. "You owe me a shirt, you know," she told Miroku matter-of-factly, tugging at the dangling cuff with her other hand and popping those last few threads and tossing it to the ground.

She then stood near Miroku and pointedly looked everywhere but at the choking guards until the scuffling of their feet against the pavement stopped and there were two heavy thuds. Sango looked back at them then, and at their rather swollen red faces and throats. "Not dead, are they?"

Sesshoumaru prodded one with a toe. "No," he said simply. "We should be moving on."

Kouga took the guards' guns, putting their safeties on and placing them in that all-purpose holster that he wore. Then, all three men worked together to stuff the unconscious bodies into the dumpster.

Quite a ways from the gate, they made their ascent. Kouga was given a boost up first, finding the shrubbery to be oddly supportive. At first, his foot slid into the bush and the branches scratched at his ankle, but once he got a good hold, he scrambled over and dropped silently to the ground.

Next over was Sango, who hopped over after being boosted up by Miroku. She momentarily lost her footing, but Kouga caught her easily and she regained her balance after the brief stumble. Next came Miroku, landing with his legs bent and straightening with a stretch, like a cat. Sesshoumaru came last, and it took him a bit longer since he had to actually climb. When he finally got over, he landed gently on the balls of his feet as if he'd done nothing more significant than hop a couple of stairs to the bottom of a staircase.

They were in. And it was time to go to work.

* * *

Review, eh? I don't think Aamalie-chan will let me get away with such a long hiatus again, though I don't think I'll need one. Life has calmed down quite a bit. D 


	17. In

Disclaimer: In which I disclaim all rights to _Inuyasha_ and constituents...

A/N: oo My. God. Shoot me now. It's been _way_ too long. It's just that it was nearing the end of the school year, and I had to do LOTS of stuff preparing for graduation. Yep. My high school career's over, you guys – I'm officially a college student. Not that you all care. You probably wish that I would just shut up and get on with the story. (does so)

Chapter 17: In

Her heart in her throat, Sango looked up at Naraku's mansion. It was an utterly forbidding place, seemingly sable in the pale, watery light of the moon. There were no external adornments; judging by the high hedges, Sango had been expecting to see fountains, gardens that may or may not have housed poisonous flora, and wrought-metal statues in complex designs. Once she set eyes on the house, she was stricken by its... normality.

It would have been nothing more than an ordinary home (albeit a huge one) if it weren't for the _feel_ of the place. The thick curtains were all drawn, leaving anyone observing from outside ignorant as to whether any lights were on or not. There were no exterior lights, and darkness seemed to drip from the windows like an ichor. There was a cloying scent on the air, like that of fruit, that hinted at the nature of the trees around them.

Sango rubbed her arms, though it was a fairly warm night. "What's next?" she asked of the males, who had been taking in the environment in the same way that she had. They were standing beneath a particularly large tree, the shadows serving to protect them from prying eyes. They could see nothing moving besides themselves and a few tree branches swaying in the wind.

Kouga turned to her with a grin, and she suddenly wanted to stomp on his foot or something equally painful. It was as if she had been able to hear what he was thinking, since his next words were, "You could always lure out a few more guards for us."

Sango glowered, but Miroku spoke over the signs of her imminent wrath. "How many more guards are we talking?"

Sesshoumaru was the one who responded; being the one among them most acquainted with Naraku, he had the means to respond. "I would estimate that there are about two guards at each door. A few may be patrolling the grounds as well."

"So we're talking… around ten?" Miroku surmised, brushing his hair from his face with an offhanded motion before putting both hands in the pockets of his jeans. He looked for all the world like he was loitering in a mall parking lot.

Sesshoumaru nodded curtly. "It has been five minutes. Kikyou's group should be circling around about now. Our task consists of nothing but staying put for a while and dispatching any guards who make themselves known."

Sango blinked at him. "You mean, we're just going to stand here?" she asked, slightly put out. She wondered what the others were doing, even as they spoke.

The beginning of the mission had been… unconventional, at best. She'd never had to work with others before, and she'd definitely never been a decoy. But now, standing outside a foreboding home and knowing that her objective was inside was something familiar, something real. The situation dredged up the latent sense of responsibility that she'd abandoned ever since she'd begun to let Miroku get too close to her.

"I'm not going to hang around and do nothing," she decided aloud, glaring at Sesshoumaru as if anticipating a challenge.

"You will not be allowed to jeopardize this operation," Sesshoumaru replied, just as curtly. "As far as I am concerned, this is not your mission."

Sango's eyes narrowed. Her FBI demeanor was rapidly returning, and she wouldn't be doing it service if she just rolled over and allowed another operative to take the reins. "As far as I'm concerned, any mission that I'm a part of _is_ mine, so back the hell off. Stay here if you want. I'm going in."

Her service revolver was cross-holstered at her left side, but a small tranquilizer gun was strapped to her right. It was the smaller gun that she drew now, fitting it into her right hand easily. It had been given to her in the van on the way over, and at the time, she'd thought it was an unnecessary addition. If there were a reason to shoot, she reasoned at first, she'd need something with a lot more stopping power. But now, she realized, it would be quite useful for infiltration.

She was actually striding away from the three men toward the open yard when a hand closed around her upper left arm gently. "And what are you going to do if you get in?" Miroku asked reasonably, releasing her as she turned to face him.

"What I do best," Sango answered with a secretive smile. "I'll take as many guards down as possible. If I happen upon the other group, all the better, but I plan to make our escape as seamless as possible. And to do that, we need as few guards as possible." She nodded to Kouga and Sesshoumaru. "I'm a professional. I'll be fine."

She turned once more and began to walk out into the yard. Her trained eyes were scanning the grounds for any movement; luckily, they'd adjusted to the dark surrounding Naraku's home by then. As she walked, she took quick inventory. The front door was at a diagonal to her position (judging from where they'd jumped the hedge), but even though she could see fairly well in the darkness, she couldn't make out if there was anyone stationed at the door. Unfortunately, there was no cover – no bushes, no trees, no walls – leading up to the door, meaning that her approach would be glaringly obvious if a guard were looking in the right direction.

Looking away from the door, she scanned the entire side of the house that was facing her. As far as she could tell, there were no more doors – no more places where stationary guards would be posted. Knowing this, she crouched low and began to move in a half-circle trajectory, planning to keep as far away from the guards as she could until she reached the side of the house. Once there, she would creep along the side of the house, dispatch them as silently as possible, and she'd have an in.

A shuffling from behind her drew her attention, and she immediately whirled, pointing the tranquilizer gun… directly between Miroku's eyes.

"Nice," he said after swallowing past the lump in his throat. Kouga and Sesshoumaru were behind him, and all seemed to have adopted the same pose as Sango had.

"Why are you following me?" she snapped. "I thought you were all just content to sit there under the apple tree and reminisce about old times."

"And leave you unattended?" Sesshoumaru said derisively.

Sango's eyes switched to him. "I'm not some little girl that needs constant supervision," she hissed. "Now, if you're going to follow me, you could at least keep it down. You're all making enough noise to wake the dead."

She began to move again, aware that one person was a lot easier to miss than four. It was more important than ever to get to the relative safety of the house before they were noticed. It seemed forever until their backs were pressed against the wall of the house, and they were edging toward the door where the guards stood.

"Did you hear that?" one of the guards asked his partner. The reply that was given was unintelligible, and the four held their breaths and pressed their bodies as close to the wall as possible, hoping to stay of sight for as long as possible if one of the guards chose to investigate. Luckily, nothing of the sort was to happen; the first guard with the obnoxiously loud and carrying voice replied with a laugh. "Yeah, you're right. That rat Naraku's bound to have some of his own kind running around."

Sango exhaled in relief, but there wasn't much time for relaxation. There was still the matter of the two guards, and getting rid of them without being conspicuous. It would appear that luck was again on the group's side, however; the first guard said something about completing his 'circuit' and stepped from in front of the door, apparently bound for the other side of the house. He passed just in front of the bushes in which Sango and the others were hidden, and the female agent wasted no time in dispatching him. With a 'pssht', a dart was shot from her expertly aimed gun and sank into the flesh of his neck.

He staggered for a moment, pulling the dart free and tossing it aside in apparent irritation, rubbing at his neck. Sango exchanged glances with Miroku, who was looking just as anxious as she was. She was hoping that the tranquilizer was fast-acting, and wouldn't give the guard time to call for help. Apparently, it was – when she looked back at him from meeting Miroku's gaze, the guard was facedown and unmoving.

Guard number two called out to the fallen man a couple of times, his voice increasingly urgent. Sango held her gun at the ready, prepared for him to come around the corner to check the other man's vitals, but he did nothing of the sort. Instead, there was a brief crackle of static, followed by a few words from the guard that were clearly picked up by the intruders. "Hey, we've got trouble out here. There's-"

He was then cut off by a very rash action from Miroku. Upon hearing that the man was about to divulge their location, he'd stepped around the corner to keep the man from saying anything else. The guard stared at him for a moment, his mouth working soundlessly, then demanded, "Who the hell're you?" Miroku, not feeling very conversational at that moment, shot him with his own tranq gun. His aim wasn't quite as practiced as Sango's, however, and the dart nicked his side, probably not even delivering enough chemical to knock him out.

The guard cried out in alarm, then dropped his handheld radio in favor of groping for his gun. By this time, the other three had rounded the corner, and there was another 'pssht' as Sesshoumaru duplicated Sango's earlier shot, pegging the guard in the neck. He went down like a bag of rice.

"Shit," Kouga commented suddenly. "Shit shit shit shit." He'd noticed an intermittently flickering light on the black box that the guard had dropped, and picked it up to find his fear confirmed. The radio was still on. Seemingly absently, he clipped the radio to his side. "We're caught. Every guard in this place will be on high alert, now." He patted the radio. "We're going to need to know what's going on, now that they know we're here."

"It's not over 'till it's over, Kouga," Sango said wryly, moving toward the door. Her adrenaline was really pumping now, and she was using the crouched posture that helped her to walk almost soundlessly. "We have to hope that we drew the guards' attention, and that they won't get to the others before they get that casebook." She turned the doorknob with her free hand and found it unlocked. Typical. Naraku was probably too arrogant to believe that his defenses could ever be infiltrated.

"All right, gang," Miroku said cheerily. "Let's go do something stupid!"

Sango rolled her eyes at him, leaning her weight into the door and pushing it open, her gun hand immediately snapping out to point into the darkened room. Despite her reaction, though, she was fairly sure that he'd made a correct observation about what they were about to do.

Kikyou's group was faring well – since they'd breached Naraku's borders and reached the overhang of his house, they hadn't seen a single guard. Even when Kagura pushed open the door that they'd all expected to be deadbolted, there was nobody inside; the hall was dark, deserted, and forbidden. "It's… quiet," Kanna murmured softly.

"…too quiet," Inuyasha returned, and Kagura rolled her eyes and punched him between the shoulder blades.

"If we're done being cliché here, let's move on," she said, folding her arms. She was the only one of them who wasn't holding a weapon ready in her hand. Apparently, she figured that she was really in no immediate danger; besides, anyone who happened upon them would most likely try to take out Inuyasha first, him being the male of the group. Inuyasha getting shot at would afford her plenty of time to draw her gun.

They entered the back hallway, walking slowly and attempting to be soundless. Kikyou had stayed out of the others' banter since they'd climbed the fence, but now, she opened her mouth to say, "It's that way." She pointed at a door ahead and to their left. No further communication was needed. Inuyasha took the forefront, striding just past the door and pressing his back to the wall right beside it. Kikyou did the same on the other side of the door.

Finally drawing her gun, Kagura walked to the door, dropped to one knee, and reached for the doorknob. She looked up at first Kikyou, then Inuyasha, and when each favored her with a nod, she twisted the knob and shoved the door inward. To the casual observer, it would have appeared that all of this precaution was completely unnecessary since the back part of the mansion seemed deserted. The three, however, knew what to expect; Naraku had a calculating mind, and there was no telling what could be awaiting them on the other side. Kanna watched them from a few feet away, standing near the wall and out of the line of any possible fire.

It was lucky that she did. When the door swung open, there was a resounding 'whoof' of a discharging shotgun, and Kagura threw herself flat as the bullets scattered in the area where her chest would have been, had she been standing up. Moving quickly, before the attacker could snap more ammo into the chamber, Inuyasha and Kikyou turned to stand in the open doorway. There was a beat, then the guard who'd shot at them found himself three tranquilizer darts richer. His eyes glazed as they watched, the gun slipping from his fingers to clatter harmlessly on the floor.

Once he was down and out for the count, Kikyou looked around furtively. "They know we're here," she said bluntly. She raised her hand, brushing her hair aside and revealing something that the other's hadn't noticed until then – there was a small black device curled around her ear, protruding just a bit toward her chin at the bottom. As they watched, she pressed the body of the device, which was inside her ear. "We need a distraction," she snapped, then immediately removed her hand and let her hair swing forward again to hide the mini-radio.

No one needed to ask to whom she'd been speaking. Kanna moved silently into the room, now showing fear clearly on her face. She was, if possible, paler than usual, and she held her small gun in a death grip. Hers wasn't a tranq gun, however – it was a small revolver. If a situation ever arose where the girl would have to shoot, she wouldn't be aiming to knock someone out.

Kikyou pointed with two fingers to a door on the other side of the room, then began to walk toward it, stepping over the unconscious guard. The others followed quickly, crouched and ready for anything.

Sesshoumaru stopped suddenly, and the others went on a few paces before noticing this fact. Kouga turned to him, gesturing to the next door. "What's the holdup?" he hissed.

"The guards are surrounding the other group. We must provide a… distraction." There was a look of mild distaste on his face at this admission. It was as if he loathed the thought of being anyone's 'distraction'… as if he'd rather be the one in the midst of murderous watchmen.

"How do you propose we do that?" Miroku asked, already answering the question in his mind. It would appear that his earlier prediction was coming true a lot swifter than he'd imagined.

Sesshoumaru didn't respond. Instead, he holstered the small tranquilizer gun and drew out his service revolver. "Hey, Sesshoumaru – what're you-" Sango cut off as the answer to her question became glaringly clear. Sesshoumaru aimed the gun at the ceiling – the light fixture, to be precise – and fired four times. The glass shattered with the first, the second demolished the chain that held the decorative fixture up. The remaining two made mincemeat of the light bulb as the light fixture crashed to the ground.

"Now, we move," Sesshoumaru said calmly, as if he hadn't done anything close to shooting down someone's private property. In mere moments, all four had gone through a nearby unidentified door. Kouga pushed the door shut behind him and everyone turned to face the door that led to hall, waiting for… something.

It was only a few seconds before signs of movement became evident. Hurried footsteps were audible through the door, and a clear, "What the hell happened here?" was exclaimed by one of the guards. There was much unintelligible mumbling, then, one voice rose above the others. "They can't have gone far. Let's go." The footsteps began again, growing fainter until they disappeared altogether.

Sango was the first to sigh in relief. "Do you know how stupid that was, Sesshoumaru?" she bit out, furious. "Elementary rule – infiltration means stealth. Stealth means not shooting down chandeliers!"

Sesshoumaru merely looked at her, unconcerned, and opened his mouth to deliver some scathing bit of wisdom. Another voice responded, however, and it wasn't that of Miroku or Kouga. "You shot down my chandelier, Sesshoumaru? Shame. I really liked it."

There, in an armchair, sat Naraku, each hand pointing a pistol directly at their group.


	18. Terminus

Disclaimer: See some other chapter, darnit.

A/N: (sings) I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedly deedly…

Chapter 18: Terminus

Kikyou paused, one hand on the doorknob of a particularly unobtrusive door. The distant crash had raised her defenses, though she knew that it was most likely the work of Sesshoumaru. She waited a moment, the others watching her uneasily. They were all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but this mission was turning out to be much more complex than rushing in and kicking butt. There was strategy involved; if Naraku got a hint of what they were really up to, it was altogether possible that he would have the casebook removed and hidden in a safer place. This was all the more reason for them to move quickly and quietly.

A while passed before Kikyou pressed the button on her earpiece again. "Sesshoumaru." There was no answer. She tried twice more, though she knew that his lack of response meant that something had gone terribly wrong at that end. "Let's move," she snapped to the others, pushing her way through the door. They were sure now that no more guards were waiting for them. At least temporarily, they had all scattered to investigate the noise.

The room that they entered next was a spacious kitchen. It was immaculate, almost sterile, and the sink in the middle of the room was seemingly adorned by hanging pots, pans, and large metal utensils. It was almost as if it had never been used, but was there for show. Across the kitchen and through another door, Kikyou found what they'd been looking for.

Two couches were in the middle of the room. Between them was a large, glass-topped coffee table.

"Took long enough," Inuyasha groused, stepping over to it and kneeling beside the unremarkable piece of furniture. "Where did you say that switch was?"

"Under the right side. Near the-"

A blaring alarm cut her off. The sound lasted but a moment before dying out, but Kikyou knew full well what it was. It was Kagura, however, who voiced the situation aloud. "Son of a bitch. He bugged the table."

Inuyasha took his hand away from the table. "The switch is busted," he said with a shrug, knowing that that was completely untrue. It worked exactly as it was supposed to, after all.

Kikyou mentally kicked herself for not thinking of this sooner. Of course Naraku had noticed that she'd found the casebook before; he was the type who noticed every detail, especially if something seemed to be out of order. It made perfect sense for him to have installed this system, even though he knew that the chances were slim of someone bursting in who knew where to find his little secret. Unfortunately for him, they were much better organized than he'd realized.

Striding over to the table, the ex-agent smashed the glass top of the coffee table with the butt of her gun. As the other three looked around warily at the doors that led into the room. Sliding the gun along the jagged edges, Kikyou cleared the debris enough to reach into the table and extract the book. Though she wasn't sure if Sesshoumaru was still on the other side of their link, she attempted to contact him anyway. "Objective accomplished. We're evacuating."

Kanna and Kagura shared a look. She meant to just leave the others behind, unsure of whether they needed aid? Kikyou caught this look and was utterly disinclined to debate the matter. "If you'd rather stay here and die, by all means, be my guest." Clutching the heavy casebook at her side, she stepped back through the door that led to the kitchen. Shouts were clearly audible again; the guards were returning.

The other three didn't wait for them to arrive; they followed on Kikyou's heels.

"I must admit," Naraku said, slowly rising to his feet. "I expected more of you both. Entering a room without first gauging its security? The mistake of a novice."

The group was frozen, the minds of all four trying to assess their situation. Sesshoumaru was the only one who was holding a gun with any sort of usefulness; the dart guns of the others were efficient when dealing with muscle-headed guards, but Naraku was a true combatant. Plus, darts were heavy and nowhere near as fast as bullets were. He'd have them on the ground bleeding before they could raise their arms.

Sango was viewing the scene with a much more optimistic eye. There were four of them, after all, and only one Naraku. As she watched her former employer, she noticed that the gun in his left hand was slightly below the one in his right. This showed that he wasn't truly proficient in shooting with both hands, but he could probably hit something if it stayed still long enough. Besides, even if he managed to wound one, maybe two of them, the others would still be able to take him down. The only problem was, he wasn't moving to fire.

In fact, no one in the room was making any move to attack. It was like a game of chess, where each move had to be carefully planned out… Before moving, you also had to consider what your opponent would do, and how you would react to that course of action.

The sound of an alarm going off made them flinch slightly. "Ah. It would appear that your friends are no more intelligent than you are," Naraku said with a sneer. He moved one foot back slightly, and there was a faint click. The alarm died out, and activity was once again perceptible in the hallways. The door behind Naraku burst open, and in came about half a dozen guards. "It would seem that my odds have improved."

Kouga had had it. He'd had enough of that bastard and his smugness. Naraku had destroyed so many lives, forced so many into jail when they'd done nothing wrong. Hell, Kouga himself had been driven into hiding when he'd done absolutely nothing wrong. He was fairly sure that, if he moved quickly enough, he'd be able to get to Naraku before anyone could react. They wouldn't expect a direct ambush, after all.

Sango turned quickly as she felt movement beside her, and saw Kouga break from the group and dart right toward Naraku. "What the-?"

"Fool!" Sesshoumaru snarled, but both statements were far too late to stop him. Kouga had chosen an opportune moment; Naraku's weaker left hand had dropped rather low. He veered slightly to the left just as Naraku shifted that hand to try and cut him off. The guards all reacted as well, raising their weapons to point at the attacker.

Sesshoumaru was next to move, darting toward Naraku's other side and firing a shot into the mass of guards. Sango and Miroku were just behind him, swiftly changing out their weapons while they had the chance. The bullet merely chipped harmlessly off the doorframe, but it got the guards' attention. Their weapons shifted to Sesshoumaru just as the three dove behind a table and upended it, forming a makeshift shield.

Kouga, meanwhile, had grabbed hold of Naraku's left arm and twisted it at the wrist, causing him to drop the gun. He went for the other hand as well, and soon, both of them were trying to wrestle the remaining weapon away from the other; Kouga's tranq gun lay dormant on the floor.

Bullets pinged off the polished mahogany surface of the table behind which Miroku, Sango, and Sesshoumaru were taking shelter. Each time the firing paused for a moment, they took turns returning fire. One of Sango's bullets hit a guard's ankle, and he went down screaming. This unfriendly exchange went on for about twenty seconds until a gunshot sounded that was not from the exchange.

"Kouga!" Sango shouted, feeling instinctively that something was wrong. How right she was. Kouga's blue eyes were wide with shock, and as she looked on, he fell to his knees. Blood matted his right shoulder, and he touched it with his left hand as if in disbelief. Miroku shifted as if prepared to run to his aid, but Sesshoumaru seized his sleeve to stop him just as another barrage of bullets peppered their table.

With a crooked smile, Naraku raised his gun and aimed it at Kouga's forehead. Kouga looked at the gun, not seeming to understand what it was. He was pale and probably in shock. Sango shouted his name again, but neither of the three behind the table could do anything at all; the table blocked them from a definite shot at Naraku, but if they stood, the guards would gun them down without remorse.

The door behind the guards swung open again, more uniformed men entered, and a single shot rang out.

Kagome paced in front of her desk, her hands clasped behind her back and her mouth a thin line. Every now and then, she glared over at Shippou, who was sitting at his own desk and staring at a pen. "What are we waiting for?" the woman asked finally, though she didn't expect an answer.

"There's nothing we can do now," Shippou said simply, snapping out of his daze and leaning back in his chair. Linking his fingers behind his head, he sighed. "We just wait… if there's something wrong, rest assured, we'll know in no ti-"

A red light near the front of the office began to flash and an alarm began to ring. "What's that?" Kagome asked, alarmed. The place had sprung to life. Though it was late, there were still several people around, and they immediately jumped to their feet and headed for the door.

Shippou stood as well, half-automatically. "I'm not surprised that you don't know… It never goes off." He grabbed at the handle of a drawer and began to rifle through it, shifting stacks of post-it notes and mounds of small gadgets aside.

"You still didn't answer my question," Kagome pointed out, stopping her pacing in favor of watching the others hurry from the room and toward the elevator.

"Alarm. It means that something's going on at Naraku's. It also means that this place goes on complete lockdown – no one goes in, no one gets out, no one even walks by until everything's secure. Everyone who's here at the time is supposed to secure the premises."

"I… didn't know that," she said uncomfortably, rubbing her upper arm and glancing around at the vacated room.

"You wouldn't have. You're a tech, after all. Not required to fight and all that."

Kagome looked at him curiously. "So are you."

Shippou chose to ignore this statement, finally coming up with a small black cell phone and slamming his drawer shut again.

"Aren't we going to… help out, or something?" Kagome asked next, trying to force some conversation out of the teen.

He didn't reply right away; Shippou flipped the phone open and dialed a number quickly. "No. We have other business." Someone obviously picked up on the other line, because Shippou suddenly launched into conversation. And Kagome understood.

The guards were all prostrate on the ground, their hands over their heads. Several of them were also wearing a foot on their backs, guns aimed steadily down at them. Naraku, meanwhile, was lying on his side on the ground, a rather neat hole in his right hand.

Sango's mind stuttered to a halt. It would appear that they had allies with someone, though with whom, she couldn't quite figure out. Slowly, she climbed to her feet, and she felt Miroku and Sesshoumaru do the same. It was now clear that the people who had just entered were most definitely not on Naraku's side. Shiny silver badges on their chests identified them as feds of the same sort as Sango and Sesshoumaru.

One of the men stepped out of the pack and walked further into the room. After making a quick survey of the situation, he raised two fingers and pointed them toward Kouga. Immediately, three of the agents broke from the group and made their way toward the man who had, at some point, collapsed. Two of them took on the task of handcuffing Naraku, who howled in pain quite satisfyingly as they wrenched his hands behind his back.

"You three. Taijiya and company. C'mere." The man who'd stepped forward motioned to them, who made no move to comply with his wishes. It wasn't as if they were ungrateful for the intervention, but at the moment, they had no idea who to trust. These people had come out of nowhere and saved their collective ass, but it wasn't clear whether they were still in danger. "I ain't got all night," he urged impatiently.

"Who are you?" Miroku finally asked the question on everyone's mind.

"That's what we call a long story," a voice said. Quite unexpectedly, it came from the door through which the foursome had entered. Even more unexpected, Sango found it quite familiar.

Shippou shoved the door open, a grin on his face. "Things went according to plan, I assume," he said to the front man, who nodded.

"That guy over there was injured when we arrived, but he'll live."

Shippou looked over at the three people who were tending to the injured man. One of them nodded to confirm the front man's story, and the teen seemed satisfied. "Good job, Biku. You move quickly."

Biku grinned and put a hand across his chest, bowing slightly. "My pleasure, Marshal."

Sango had watched this exchange, perplexed, but when this word was uttered, she could contain herself no longer. "Marshal? Shippou, what the hell is going on here?"

"That's the same thing that I was wondering," Miroku said idly, perceiving that there was no imminent danger and holstering his gun. "Shippou… We haven't seen you in months. I was sure that you'd been captured."

Shippou grinned self-deprecatingly, holding up both hands. "All right, you two, I can explain…" He took a deep breath and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I've lived a sort of triple life for quite a while now. You see, it's really hard for the government to keep an eye on everyone at once. My true position, of course, is FBI Marshal. My assignment was to supervise Naraku's actions. Believe me, everybody else thinks he'd just as much of a bastard as you do, Sango," he said with a laugh. "In my spare time, I also became one of Naraku's 'hunted', just so I could see firsthand the kind of stuff that he put people through."

Shippou walked further into the room until he was standing beside Naraku, who was facedown on the ground. Looking down scornfully, he casually placed a foot down on the hand that had been shot through. Naraku shrieked in pain, and Shippou removed his foot. "Once I'd become acquainted with Inuyasha, Miroku and the rest, I knew that I had to do something about Naraku. Sadly, I lacked proof. Though I could have gone to the FBI head at any time without any trouble making him believe me, without proof, there's no way Naraku could have been implicated. So I had to wait…

"Imagine how surprised I was, Sango, when I heard of Miroku's plan to lure Naraku out by reappearing in public." He glanced at Miroku. "Idiot. Anyway, I figured that he'd be assigned to you, Sango, so I began to take precautions. Once they began to plot Miroku's reappearance, I vanished from _Chateau Chantre_. I expected that Naraku would put you on the case, and it'd be awkward if you were to see me running around with outlaws."

Sango nodded slowly. Even though his story was amazing, Sango believed every word. It explained a lot, after all, and Shippou was certainly smart enough to figure it all out.

"My hand in your case was pretty clear. When Naraku ordered for a gun to be sent to you at that place where you and Miroku were having lunch, I was the one who loaded it and gave it to the drop-off lackey. Of course, I loaded it with fake bullets. I didn't think you were stupid enough to shoot him, but just in case you were, it wouldn't do for you to kill him. Even if you did shoot him, it would have looked like the bullet had been real, and Miroku has good sense-" Shippou paused. "-most of the time."

Miroku grinned sheepishly. "Shippou…"

"Right, right. He would have played dead, of course, and gotten away. I'm surprised that Kouga didn't name me as the maker when he found out about the fake bullets… I fashioned them while I was spending my nights at _Chateau_. As soon as you vanished, I knew what had happened… and two cars of agents have been following you since you've been missing."

"What? How?" Sango asked. "I destroyed the phone, and that's where the tracking device was-"

Shippou grinned and held up a finger like a schoolteacher correcting a child. "That's where _Naraku's_ tracking device was. Mine was in the gun. Kouga took it from you, like he always does for visitors, and he put it in his holster. It's still in there. They followed it here. When the alarm went off back at headquarters, I knew something had happened, so I called my men in. They were parked half a block from this house, and when they got the call, they came in… End of story."

Miroku rubbed his face. "Shippou… you scare the hell out of me."

The teen grinned. "Thanks."

Sesshoumaru, who had remained quite silent throughout all of these revelations, finally spoke up. "Is the objective complete? Where are the others?"

Shippou shifted his green eyes to the pale-haired man. "They're safe with the second car. The casebook is already en route to main HQ. Naraku's going away for a long time." Now that he'd remembered that Sesshoumaru existed, he remembered that he had some news for him. "Ah, and Sesshoumaru? I was supposed to tell you… From now on, you're in charge of the branch that Naraku previously ran. Rule well, hmm?" He winked.

Sesshoumaru studied the teen for a moment, then nodded curtly. "Very well. I will set off for headquarters, then. The staff is still on high alert."

"A car's outside for you," Biku spoke up helpfully. Sesshoumaru didn't even acknowledge him; he moved from the room and his footsteps gradually faded.

In the ensuing silence, Sango's legs suddenly decided that she was very tired. She slumped to her knees, dropping her face into her hands and sitting on her feet. The person who was indirectly responsible for her parents' deaths would soon be behind bars… she was no longer a fugitive… it was… finished. She'd been running on adrenaline for a long time, and now, she no longer had to.

An arm curled around her shoulders. "Are you all right, Sango?" Miroku asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Tired," she muttered. "I feel like I haven't slept in a week."

"More like thirty-six hours, but I see your point." He studied her, then cheerfully slid his hand downward from her shoulders to her mid-back, then lower…

Sango promptly slapped him into the upended table, then hopped to her feet. "I'm not _that_ tired. Pervert." She stalked angrily to the door, then weakly slumped against the doorframe. "Ach. I feel like shit warmed over. Three times." She looked back at Miroku, who was rubbing his cheek and grinning widely.

As tired as Sango was, she couldn't help it.

She smiled, too.

Epilogue, coming up!


	19. Epilogue: Let It Ring

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Except the idea. And any random original character. And _The Dancing Buddha_, which is an awesome name for a bar, thank you very much.

A/N: All right – this is the last chapter, everyone. It took me a loooong time to finish this fic, and though I'm sort of relieved that it's done, I'm as sad as some of you to see it finished. There will be no sequel, so let's not bug poor Cori, hmm? Everything's wrapped up all nicely, and picking at the knot would be asking for trouble… I have other plotbunnies… watches them hop> … that are clamoring to be written, so expect new things from me. I appreciate every one of you! You make me creative. And a creative Corisu is a happy one. Enjoy the chapter (which is short and to the point)! Oh, and _Opposites Attract _comes from one of Aamalie's fics - _The Opposite of Attraction_. Go read it, if you haven't. Ish excellent MirSan, yepyep.

Epilogue: Let it Ring

The room was cold – uncomfortably so. Sango lay on her back on the freezing linoleum, unclad except for a tattered pair of quite indecent shorts. A swath of redness coated her chest and abdomen, and the floor around her was stained crimson. Her lips were slightly parted and sported a bluish tint. The room was nearly silent, save for an almost imperceptible scratching. Then, that silence was broken.

"Time's up!"

Sango bolted up, muttering, "Thank goodness." Standing carefully, she worked her way out of the pool of costume blood around her, walking gingerly to keep herself from falling. She made her way over to an empty stool and seized the towel that was sitting upon it. She began to wipe the gunk off her body, rotating her head to each side to work the tension out of her neck; she'd been in that pose for the last forty minutes, after all.

A hand touched her upper arm and she jumped slightly, turning around. After instructing the students to finish up their works, he'd come over to check on his favorite model. "Shower?" Miroku asked, holding a black duffel bag out to her.

Grinning, Sango seized it and nodded. "Absolutely." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before wrapping the towel around her chest and stepping into the hallway. The dressing room was three doors down from the classroom, on the left. She slipped inside quickly, locking the door behind her, and set about washing the fake blood from her chest, and the pallid, deathlike makeup from her face.

As she cleaned up, she reflected. It had been six months since that night at Naraku's mansion, and so much had gone on since that night that it was hard to believe that she'd been in so much danger. Naraku had been put in a prison comparable to Alcatraz. After all, he'd betrayed the government; there was literally no way that he could get any mercy at all, and he'd spend the rest of his life behind bars. None of them had seen Shippou since that night, and everyone suspected that he'd gone off to handle another delicate situation.

Sesshoumaru had proven to be an excellent department head. He ruled with an iron fist, of course, but he was still efficient and unbelievably just. Sango had learned all of this secondhand, from Kagome. Naraku's capture had marked the end of the Taijiya's career. She hadn't quit because she had grown weary with the lifestyle… She'd left because, as far as she was concerned, her objective was complete. Her main motivation for hunting felons was revenge, and because she'd hoped, some day, that she would be able to catch her parents' killer. Naraku was now behind bars, and she felt content with her hard work.

Kikyou, to the surprise of no one, had gone back to her normal life, her normal job. No one had expected for her to go back to her old job now that Naraku was gone; she had Kaede to look after, and the mission had made the woman realize that she was all her younger sister had in the world.

Sango had, at Miroku's persistent cajoling, decided to pick up modeling once more. It was a source of income, after all, and she really didn't want to go job-searching right away. It had started out as a one-time thing, but she'd found herself agreeing to do it more and more. It was much better than sitting at home all of the time, anyway. Four months, and he'd persuaded her into less and less clothing… She was now actively searching for a job, just to keep him from getting her completely nude within the next month.

Miroku, with the aid of Professor Myouga's glowing recommendation, had taken the old man's position as professor of art on a probationary basis. Usually, the university did not tolerate such young professors, so they had made a deal with the old man – they would allow Miroku to teach as long as he could display his competence when the end of the year came. This 'display' would be in the form of an art auction that would be taking place in a few short weeks. Myouga had been upset, claiming that the school was trying to capitalize on Miroku's successes, but the younger man had quickly agreed. It would bring him one step closer to his goal of owning his own private school.

Once Sango had scrubbed every bit of the fake blood from her body and hair, she stepped out of the shower, dug a clean towel from the duffel bag, and began to dry off.

She dressed quickly, donning a pair of black blue jeans and a nondescript black shirt. Shoving her feet into black sneakers, she smiled wanly. As much as she'd gone through, she hadn't changed her style of dress one bit. Obviously, it would take much more than a life-threatening situation to change Sango's habits.

Well, there was that, and the fact that her wardrobe was very limited, and she was not eager to wear that loathsome skirt that Kagome had forced her into so long ago.

She was just pulling her damp hair into a low ponytail when Miroku came into the room, a wide grin on his face. "Another productive class," he said, sitting in a chair by the door. He absentmindedly plucked the small paintbrush from behind his ear and began to twirl it between his fingers.

Sango raked her fingers through a clump of hair that was refusing to behave, finally getting it smooth enough to serve. "You should knock, Miroku." She didn't look over at him, choosing to ignore the unspoken 'Since when?' hanging on the air. Once she was marginally presentable, she packed everything that she'd brought into the bathroom back into the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "Ready?" she asked, indicating that she was prepared to head for home. It had been a long day, and she'd had to model for three separate classes.

"Not quite yet," Miroku commented. "Come here. I want you to see something." He stood and stepped through the door, back into the classroom. Sango followed, stifling a yawn. What could he possibly want? It was going on nine o'clock, and they'd been there since the early hours of the morning.

He led her over to one of the covered canvases, and it was then that Sango realized that he was going to show off the work of the people who had painted her. She was immediately interested; he hadn't done that since the first time that she had modeled. There was no Sesshoumaru in the class now, of course, nor Ginta and Hakkaku to add humor to the environment. Many of the students were still very good, and quite dedicated. As a matter of fact, there was a young girl still seated at her easel, painting away. "She's slow to add color," Miroku remarked quietly, noticing Sango's eyes drifting to the girl. "She's great, though."

He smiled then, putting his hand on the closest easel. "Ready to witness how far you've come?"

Sango rolled her eyes, but knew that he was joking. "Just show me, already, so we can go."

Miroku looked wounded, but the expression lasted only a moment. "Voila," he said, before taking the cloth off the canvas. The picture that was revealed rendered Sango momentarily speechless.

It was so much like the one that Sesshoumaru had done several months ago, but so different. In a style that was uncharacteristic with her conceptions of art, the creator of this work had completely ignored her bare chest. Her features were clearly and perfectly depicted, but that was obviously not supposed to be the focal point of the painting. Instead, her torso was a violent slash of color, different shades of red drawing the eye to the center of the painting instead of the model.

"Great, isn't it?" Miroku said thoughtfully as Sango stepped forward, brushing the painting lightly with her fingertips. "The focus of the painting isn't the model, but the concept. 'Death Blow', he calls it. It's going up for auction."

Quite suddenly, Sango turned to look back at him. The girl who was in the corner shuffled to her feet and, bowing to Miroku and Sango, excused herself from the room. When she was gone, Sango said, "I want to ask you something."

"Anything," he said swiftly, putting his hands on her hips.

"Why have you never painted me?" she asked, meeting his eyes steadily. "I've been modeling for a while now, and most of the time, you're not giving tips or teaching at all while I'm in the pose – you do all that before and after. So why not…?"

Miroku smiled. "Have you ever given a thought to what art really is?"

The woman tried to frown to show that she was serious and put her hands on his as if to pull them off her body. "Don't answer my question with a question."

"Art…" Miroku continued as if he hadn't heard, "is trying your best to render your view of reality." He linked his fingers at the small of Sango's back and pulled her close. She offered no resistance, and he pressed his forehead to hers as he continued. "Everything must be depicted exactly as the artist intends… Were I to paint you, I would have to linger everywhere… the curve of your shoulders…" He raised his hands to her shoulders and rested them there lightly. "…each of your fingers…" he lowered his arms and linked their fingers together. "… I would have had to perfectly show everything." He kissed her gently, briefly. "You're perfect. I'm not a perfect artist."

Sango blushed lightly, smiling helplessly. She groped for something to say, something to use to defend herself. Still grinning, she declared, "Bullshit."

Miroku laughed and kissed her on the forehead before letting her go. "But it sounded good. I meant everything I said, though. You are perfect… but I will paint you someday. When I can paint you nude, that is." He raised his hand and tipped an imaginary hat to her. "Your carriage awaits," he quipped, heading for the door.

Sango stared after his retreating form before shaking her head in exasperation. Typical Miroku. Straightening the strap of the bag on her shoulder, she trotted after him.

* * *

A drive across town later, Sango fitted her key into the lock and pushed the door open, stepping into her home. Miroku followed on her heels, shutting the door behind him as she tossed her bag into a nearby chair. He'd been in her house countless times now – and not uninvited, as the case had been the first time.

Reaching the living room, Sango's first order of business was to check her answering machine. She didn't care for voicemail, which was what many people used; she preferred having the option of screening her calls by voice, and not caller ID. The number three was flashing on the machine's display in bright red, and she clicked on the lamp beside the table before pressing the play button. A beep sounded, and Kagome began to speak about something inane.

"Sango? Where are you…? If you're there, pick up!…." Ah. The downfall of people knowing that you had an answering machine… everyone figured that they could just call you to the phone, no matter where you were.

Miroku had moved to the armchair, and Sango joined him, unabashedly sitting in his lap and curling against him. "Tired," she stated simply, her eyes closing in contentment. There was no need for her to shun contact, after all; they'd been together for a long time, not to mention that fact that they'd stared death in the eyes while side-by-side.

Miroku put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he murmured softly. The words had been exchanged quite a few times over the course of the last few months, but something poignant in his voice made Sango open her eyes and look up at him.

The voice on the answering machine changed with a 'beep'. _"Hello, I'm Tsumaki Wei from_ Opposites Attract_, a new reality show! This is to inform you that we're interviewing in your area…" _

The words came from Sango's mouth much quieter than she'd intended. "Love you, too." She didn't know what it was, but something was on Miroku's mind… something obviously important.

Beep. _"Hello, Sango."_ Sango blinked. That was Miroku's voice. But why would he…? He'd been with her all day, after all; why would he have needed to leave a message? _"You're showering as I say this, probably expecting me to barge in on you. Or wishing I would."_ She could practically hear the smile in his voice, just as clearly as she could see the smile on his face now.

"What…?" she began to ask, but the man shushed her quickly, and the message went on.

"We've been through a lot together… We've protected each other, argued with each other, brought joy and pain and lots of other things to our relationship. And… well… you've done more than save my life. You've given me hope, and-" He broke off with a laugh. _"That has to sound so corny. There's just no other way I can say it, except-" _Another pause. Sango was staring wide-eyed at Miroku now, who was simply looking at the ceiling and smiling innocently. _"I love you. I need you. When we're together, I'm truly happy, and I know you feel the same. Or I hope you feel the same, because if not, the next few minutes are going to be really awkward." _The machine fell silent. It was evident that Miroku hadn't hung up then, because the recording didn't click off. The Miroku that was sitting in the chair shifted and moved Sango off his lap, standing.

He broke off with a laugh. Another pause. Sango was staring wide-eyed at Miroku now, who was simply looking at the ceiling and smiling innocently. The machine fell silent. It was evident that Miroku hadn't hung up then, because the recording didn't click off. The Miroku that was sitting in the chair shifted and moved Sango off his lap, standing. 

Still, the recording was silent. Miroku turned slowly, smiling wanly at Sango. Then, slowly, he dropped one knee to the carpet. Sango's breath caught in her throat and she tried, unsuccessfully, to force his name out of her mouth. Miroku then rummaged in his coat pocket, pulling out a small black box. Covering her mouth with her right hand, Sango's eyes suddenly welled.

Miroku mouthed the words along with the answering machine as the voice resumed. _"Sango, will you marry me?"_ He snapped the box open, revealing a beautiful diamond ring.

Sango couldn't speak for a moment. As such, she began to nod fervently, tears finally falling as a wide smile spread across her face. She held out her left hand, which was shaking, and Miroku slipped the ring onto her finger. He was grinning and teary as well, and he let out a delighted laugh as Sango lowered herself to the floor and promptly threw herself into his arms, knocking them both to the floor as she pressed her lips to his.

The phone rang at that moment, and they both stared at it. Sango made as if to rise. Miroku murmured, "No way," and rolled over, pinning the woman so that there was no way that she could go to the phone. A characteristically lecherous grin on his face, he said three words.

"Let it ring."

"Are you there, Sango? Sangooo…"

****

THE END


End file.
